Standard Post-Rotation Kingdra GX Turbo

[crispierdna]

Pokemon (20):
4 Horsea
1 Seadra
4 Kingdra GX
3 Alolan Vulpix
2 Alolan Ninetales (Burning Shadows)
1 Alolan Ninetales GX
2 Tapu Lele GX
1 Oranguru
1 Volcanion Prism Star
1 Oricorio (Vital Dance)

Trainers (29):
4 Rare Candy
4 Aqua Patch
4 Ultra Ball
2 Choice Band
2 Switch

2 Brooklet Hill

3 Crasher Wake
4 Cynthia
2 Guzma
1 Lusamine
1 Lady

Energy (11):
11 Water Energy

The goal of the deck is to use Crasher Wake to ditch W energy and find your combo pieces, namely Kingdra/Rare Candy, then to ensure that you have an energy attachment every turn while you look for aqua patches (which you can grab off of further Crasher Wakes). Can use Kingdra GX's reverse thrust to put it on the bench for aqua patch and promote Alolan Ninetales from Burning Shadows to give yourself a wall against the GX heavy format we find ourselves in. Let me know if you think there are other good additions to the deck, or if it could be streamlined further. Thanks!

 

[John InCENAroar]

A concern I see this deck running into is the constant need to bounce back and forth. While a wall-type pokemon is a great idea, and I love using the Alolan Vulpix to set up, I think the slots for Ninetales may be used better by the Quagsire from the same set. Since it has an ability that transfers energy from it to the active, it negates the need to play switch-type cards to use the aqua patch. I think it is a beautiful partner for the King, and should be considered. In that same vein, I would keep the Vulpix, replace the ninetales and 1 switch for a 2-2 Quagsire line, and add a Guzma in place of the other switch.

 

[crispierdna]

A concern I see this deck running into is the constant need to bounce back and forth. While a wall-type pokemon is a great idea, and I love using the Alolan Vulpix to set up, I think the slots for Ninetales may be used better by the Quagsire from the same set. Since it has an ability that transfers energy from it to the active, it negates the need to play switch-type cards to use the aqua patch. I think it is a beautiful partner for the King, and should be considered. In that same vein, I would keep the Vulpix, replace the ninetales and 1 switch for a 2-2 Quagsire line, and add a Guzma in place of the other switch.

Great advice, though if I may throw another suggestion at you, what if I dropped the 2 switch, the Ninetales GX, and one of the baby Ninetales to add the 2-2 Quag line? That way the baby ninetales is there for stall should I need it, and turns a vulpix stranded in the active into something I can sit on, while also giving me the energy moving option with quag. Additionally, Do you think it would be worth finding room for a max potion or 2 if I'm playing the quag line? I can guzma one kingdra into another, transfer all the energies up to the new active one, and then max potion the one on the bench. Worth it or nah?

 

[John InCENAroar]

I think you need a 2-2 Quag line, and getting rid of those works. If you want a GX wall over another Guzma, that's up to you. Not how I would personally run it, but it works. I think Max potion negates from the aspect of being a "Turbo" deck a bit too much, especially since you have to use an attack to switch, if not using your reduced count of Guzma. If you want to play it, you probably need a more efficient, more immediate form of a switch engine. Maybe drop Lusamine and Lady for the switch type cards or the potions, one vulpix for a Guzma, and drop the Volcanion Prism and Oricorio for two supplemental switch cards, being switch or escape rope or whatever. The reason I say this is because using an attack to switch can, and often will, lead to unwanted damage being taken by your pokemon, at the hands of a Guzma or otherwise. I don't super like Volcanion in this list, since you have no choice in terms of what comes up, which often puts your opponent in a situation where they work around it and either sacrifice what they want to or put themselves into a better position. If you do play it, you need to play Cyrus to limit their options as well.

 

[WinterShorts]

I see a small amount of things to cut. I don't think you need a 4th Kingdra-GX with the logic of knocking 3 GXs out means you already won, as well as the fact that you don't need multiple Kingdras out if you're going with the plan to use Quagsire to move energies around. I get the whole point of using Crasher Wake to add energies to hand and then search for whatever you need, which is awesome consistency in water decks when done right, so I don't see the purpose of Lady since she's your supporter for the turn which means you can't use Crasher Wake, so it's a 2-turn searcher meaning you can't play other important supporters like Guzma. The Oranguru (which I assume is the one from Sun and Moon) I guess can work but that depends on how many cards you can burn in your hand. You're adding energies to hand with cards like Oricorio which means if you can't ditch them immediately then Oranguru sits there doing nothing.

Depending on what cards you took out for room, you might want some cards that recover. I would say Super Rod, but that's getting rotated and looking at the build provided, I assume this is post-rotation and not meant for 2018 Worlds play so Rescue Stretcher should still make for a good alternative to grab missing Quagsire parts or another Kingdra. Now that you have Quagsire in the deck, I think I might be able to recommend Palkia-GX as a tech (the Dragon-Type one since even if you aqua patch to a Pokemon you can move it with Quagsire and you're not weak to grass in which otherwise grass decks like Golisopod would have a field day with you). With a good amount of energies on the board you can delete all energies on the board and maybe even OHKO a Tapu Lele with a Guzma and a Choice Band, or even just use Palkia as an attacker if you're willing to put that many energies on your active Pokemon. Maybe a second Seadra as well, might depend on how many Horseas you'll have on your bench on turn 1. I do realize I just kind of gave advice mostly for general ideas for Kingdra on a build that's supposed to Turbo him out via Wake, so maybe all this would be in a different build of Kingdra, but I think it's good to list some options even if it makes a small difference.