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Standard Please Help Me Improve My Deck - Primarina GX 1/2

B

burcs

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Deck 1: Primarina-GX variant

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 22

* 2 Shining Celebi PR-SM SM79
* 3 Alolan Vulpix GRI 21
* 4 Popplio SUM 39
* 1 Remoraid BKT 31
* 1 Staryu CIN 15
* 1 Volcanion {*} FLI 31
* 2 Alolan Ninetales-GX GRI 22
* 2 Brionne SUM 40
* 1 Octillery BKT 33
* 1 Starmie EVO 31
* 1 Primarina SUM 41
* 3 Primarina-GX PR-SM SM39

##Trainer Cards - 26

* 2 Aqua Patch GRI 119
* 2 Brooklet Hill GRI 120
* 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 2 N DEX 96
* 1 Wishful Baton BUS 128
* 1 Brigette BKT 134
* 4 Cynthia UPR 119
* 2 Field Blower GRI 125
* 2 Guzma BUS 115
* 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
* 2 Float Stone BKT 137
* 3 Rare Candy PRC 135

##Energy - 12

* 10 Water Energy Energy 3
* 2 Splash Energy BKP 113

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

In case you're wonering about the shining celebi, it's there because it lets A9T-GX or Baby A9T keep beaconing. This is extremely effective if you're on the defense or playing a more defensive game. I played this deck with Baby A9T and without octillery and my overall ratio insofar is 9/16.
 
At first I was shocked by the number of pokemon vs. the number of energy (I would have expected more energy in the deck), but when I thought about it, the starmie/staryu isn't going to need energy, and neither is the Octillery line. The Volcanion (*) I don't know about - maybe in a pinch, but likely not. The shining celebi certainly not except to retreat in a real dire situation (not sure of its retreat cost, I think it is one energy and not a free retreat?), so bottom line is that the energy balance looks good from a pokemon-to-energy ratio. For the primarina-gx's, you want to beef up that attack power with energies, but I feel that the 12 energies is enough.

Curiosity question - have you considered Palkia EX in this decklist? Not sure if he is still standard / what set he's in... likely expanded. It would cost 2 energy to get him up and rolling, but it would be a fast way to get energy on the field. If he's expanded, though, no need to explain why you didn't choose to put him in the deck.

Do you find this slow to start, with all of the evo's? I'd fear faster decks, especially [Nightmarch/Zoroark-GX] and [Malamar/(Necrozma or Ultra Necrozma)] decks. Plus, buzzwole could do a lot of damage if you don't evolve quickly, with the spread 30/30 attack and your relatively low HP basics. At least that's my guess. Curious how it handles against those builds?

You mentioned baby A9T following the decklist, but I didn't see one listed in the decklist. That would be my only suggestion - another non-EX/GX to deal with opponent baby A9T or Hoopa (SLG). You have the volcanion (*) and baby primarina, but I'm worried if that's enough against decks with multiple copies of anti-EX/GX pokemon. Sure, you can switch with the volcanion (*), but if they only have hoopa's or something like that in play, your options are really limited.

Even with all of thet, I like this build, I think that you've thought of nearly everything. Now I just need to find 2x shining celebi and a volcanion (*) on PTCGO so I can play-test it for myself. :)

All comments were said with utmost respect and are meant strictly as suggestions or constructive criticism - no bashing intended. Make decks, not war. :)
-GengarBreak
 
Tried this deck myself and it is really slow, consider to add bkp palkia ex (at least 2), remove alolan nintales, starmie line and octillery line. Play oranguru instead. Reduce vulpix to 2. No bridgette, 4 aqua patch, 3/4 stadiums, 4 candies. Add also dragon palkia gx, for a non water attacker
 
thank you very much for a polite and detailed criticism! I haven't seen that level of welcome in other forums.


Palkia - I considered it, I removed it, but maybe it's time to put it back in. my original thought was that I wanted baby A9T on the active, fetching pokemon via time recall.


Baby A9T - up until today, I played Baby A9T instead of A9T-GX. it was okay for holding the active while I build up. but it couldn't beat back. While not being able to protect itself, A9T is beefy, can dish out damage and can hit the bench. maybe I should play another mix.


Baby primarina - maybe she occupies a pricey slot. most of the time she doesn't get used because there's not much hoopa or baby A9T and I also have other things to do (volcanion hitting for 100, brionne). so not sure.
 
@jo94 :
that'd be reverting to a more 'typical' primarina build (even though they usually sport octillery), which we know is not a strong perfomer.

one of my problems with this build is that the deck whittling mechanism (beacon) runs against the octillery hand refresh, even if I toss them straight away to space beacon. sometimes I just find myself without energy and without a good way to pull energy, in particular when this happens behind a Baby A9T barrier.
 
Baby nintales isn't good as it was, cause every deck has non gx attacker (baby buzzwole, baby mewtwo, etc.), while adding lots of different stage one lines makes the deck unconsistent and cluncky, do not play ninetales at all, moreover it requires dce to work properly. If you are looking for a good attacker use lapras
 
jo94 said:
Baby nintales isn't good as it was, cause every deck has non gx attacker (baby buzzwole, baby mewtwo, etc.), while adding lots of different stage one lines makes the deck unconsistent and cluncky, do not play ninetales at all, moreover it requires dce to work properly. If you are looking for a good attacker use lapras
Click to expand...

wait till you see my other deck LOL. even though that work very well.

Surprisingly enough (from play experience, and contrary to 'theoretical' expectations) pokemon consistency is not the problem of this deck. The A9T/Celebi combo does wonders in setting up the board just like I want it (same with my other deck), in fact, I prefer not to start the game with an active popplio but with an active vulpix. it even "self-boots" (vulpix fetching ninetales and celebi, next turn fetching volcanion and remoraid etc).

the major problem is stalling due to inability to pull energy at the required rate, by the time the primarina really has to get into her action. my engine doesn't pull energy, just mons.
 
one of my problems with this build is that the deck whittling mechanism (beacon) runs against the octillery hand refresh
Click to expand...

that's why you need to focus more on items and less on pokemon, for what i've learned in my playing experience, the less pokemon lines you have, the smoother the strategy goes
 
the major problem is stalling due to inability to pull energy at the required rate, by the time the primarina really has to get into her action. my engine doesn't pull energy, just mons.
Click to expand...

because you have too many mons and too little energy, it is not the correct ratio. In my humble opinion you need to reduce pokemon (and use palkia, which works beautifully)
 
jo94 said:
because you have too many mons and too little energy, it is not the correct ratio. In my humble opinion you need to reduce pokemon (and use palkia, which works beautifully)
Click to expand...

will do! I am not sure why I removed the palkia to begin with. here's what I changed:

+2 Palkia-EX
-1 Baby Primarina
A9T mix - one baby, one GX
-1 N : I felt like I needed N's to get energy when I am stalled. with palkia in, I should have a decent way of pulling more energy.
 
jo94 said:
that's why you need to focus more on items and less on pokemon, for what i've learned in my playing experience, the less pokemon lines you have, the smoother the strategy goes
Click to expand...

this is indeed common strategy and there's a lot of sense in that - unless you're hedging hard on the A9T/Celebi combo.
in which case I might be considering +1 Vulpix +1 A9T in expense of the octillery, that's another modification worth checking. more consistent, still 'fetchy', less evolution lines.
 
I've been tinkering with this a bit, and I'm afraid it is two decks forced into one. A decision needs to be made. Either you go for a more standard Primarina build, OR you play a Ninetales build. Trying to do both here is working against itself. E.G. Ninetales GX discards energy, whereas Primarina wants as many energy on the board as you can keep there. Both Ninetales look for DCE, but Primarina works better on pure [W].

That said there are some good ideas here. I like the Celebi/Vulpix combo to continue your set-up even after a baby Ninetales wall has gone up. If you are continuing to use Starmie, consider Crasher Wake as the way to dig out Rare Candy and w/e else you require.
 
Yog said:
I've been tinkering with this a bit, and I'm afraid it is two decks forced into one. A decision needs to be made. Either you go for a more standard Primarina build, OR you play a Ninetales build. Trying to do both here is working against itself. E.G. Ninetales GX discards energy, whereas Primarina wants as many energy on the board as you can keep there. Both Ninetales look for DCE, but Primarina works better on pure [W].

That said there are some good ideas here. I like the Celebi/Vulpix combo to continue your set-up even after a baby Ninetales wall has gone up. If you are continuing to use Starmie, consider Crasher Wake as the way to dig out Rare Candy and w/e else you require.
Click to expand...

I never tried to make it a 'pure' A9T build. I have another deck (G/W "invincibles") that explores the same concept with vileplume (alternate lock), leafeon-gx (accel) and using dual sandslashes for the draw. How do you think a 'pure' A9T build would look like?
 
It's been a long time since I blew the dust off this deck, but here is my old list from a few months back.

In general the idea is to snipe as much as possible and then a cheeky Espeon can devolve anything that you can't push Ninetales GX damage counters onto. Could definitely do with some updating for new cards that have arrived since.

NWhFggA.png
 
that should be a good deck to make... but entirely different from primarina :)
I'm not sure A9T can really pull off its own weight alone. I also don't have any lele or a 2nd octillery.
 
Agreed and why I stopped playing it, it can't keep up with the new GX on the scene since then. Espeon will rotate soon too. It can still be fun though, depends what your bigger goals in the game are.


Octillery is a nice goal to aim for for now. Lele will be a bit more difficult to get.

edit: actually, Octillery rotates soon too. If you are building a water deck with Brooklet Hill, then Alolan Sandslash could be a viable alternative. There is also the incoming Swampert that does the same thing as Zoroark except draws you three cards. But is a Stage 2 so more difficult to set up. Otherwise the tried and tested Oranguru for draw.

Or there is also a new Zebstrika landing in a few months that discards your hand and draws four.
 
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