Alt. Format PRC-On Zygarde Anti-Meta

[LoneWolf2113]

Pokemon: 14

3 Zygarde-EX
2 Carbink FCO (Safeguard)
2 Carbink BREAK FCO
2 Blitzle BKP
2 Zebstrika BKP
2 Shaymin-EX
1 Regirock-EX

Trainers: 34
4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
2 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Float Stone
4 VS Seeker
4 Ultra Ball
2 Power Memory
1 Professor's Letter
1 Escape Rope
4 Puzzle of Time
3 Scorched Earth
1 Silent Lab


Energy: 12
4 Strong Energy
6 Fighting Energy
2 Double Colorless Energy

Strategy:
So the rotation for the 2017 Standard Season was announced earlier this week. Next season will be Primal Clash-On and as such I figured it would be fun to play a counter-y deck. I figured the top decks would be things that include Garbodor because, for the time being, there is no way to discard tools from Pokemon in play, because both Startling Megaphone and Xerosic are rotating out of the format. So, what decks may emerge that play Garbodor. My answer was simple: Darkrai/Giratina/Garbodor, and Mega Rayquaza. And what are those decks weak to?: Fighting types and Lighting types.

Given these weaknesses, Zygarde-EX is a great fighting type and can counter Darkrai fairly well, given that it can use Cell Storm with a Strong Energy and either Regirock-EX or a Fighting Fury Belt to deal 180 damage to Darkrai-EX in one attack. Zebstrika on the other hand is a hard counter to Mega Rayquaza-EX given that Crashing Bolt does 110 damage if the defending Pokemon has Fighting Resistance which Mega Rayquaza does. Mega Rayquaza also has a weakness to lightning, meaning that Zebstrika's 110 damage then doubles into 220, which is exactly enough to KO a Mega Rayquaza-EX in one hit. Another benefit is that Zebstrika trades prizes 1 for 2 on a Mega Rayquaza-EX which is always a nice bonus.

TL;DR: I expect M Rayquaza-EX/ Garbodor and Darkrai/Giratina/Garbodor to be extremely popular in at least the first few months of standard next season and this deck is basically a hard counter to both of those decks.

I appreciate any feedback that you guys have to offer and any questions or cards that you'd like to suggest are welcome, however at the current moment, TCGOne.net, the site I use to playtest, is being a bit odd in the way that counts the energy attached to Fighting Pokemon or otherwise, so I may not be able to test this deck out until that bug is fixed.

Thanks, guys!
LoneWolf2113

 

[cccfire]

If we're countering Darkrai/Giratina/Garbodor, I think Regirock-EX is a bad idea, mostly because its ability will probably be blocked and you're probably not regularly using it as an attacker.
I think the promo Jirachi deserves a spot here? Or maybe not, with Bent Spoon here and Pokemon Ranger probably coming out.
I like the idea of using Carbink to stall or even auto-win matches, though.

 

[Lanstar]

That's quite an interesting Post-Rotation deck to try out... But I do have a few ideas for it:

-Since you must deal with using DCE for Zebstrika and Strong Energy for Zygarde-EX, You just don't have enough Basic energy to take out with Max Elixir, so I'd just cut the Max Elixir out of the decklist and add Trainer's Mail instead. Maybe switch one Fighting energy with a DCE also - it will make the Discarding effect of Power Memory less painful.
-With all the Special energy in your deck, I'd add a Special Charge to shuffle some of it back into your deck, and a Pokemon Ranger to Break the Lock of Giratina-EX.
-Scortched Earth works better if you have enough fighting energy to draw... How about using Parallel City instead, so to cripple your opponent's bench, or to reduce damage a little?

Those are just some ideas I can give you.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

I also concur with @Lanstar in that the current 5 Fighting energy are not, IMO, sufficient to justify having 4 Max Elixir. Your draft deck list seems solid, except for the Max Elixir, and I'd suggest replacing all of those with 4 of the following:

Fighting energy - to increase your odds of drawing into needed Basic energy and to use with Scorched Earth,
Silent Lab or Scorched Earth - to disrupt opponent's Shaymin EXs, etc. or increase card-draw capability
Professor's Letter - to help search and get Basic energy, and/or
Steven (Should you decide to just keep 5 Basic Fighting energy) - to help search for needed Supporter and Basic energy.​

I hope you find these comments helpful.

 

[LoneWolf2113]

Thank you guys for all the responses! I do find that Max Elixir is a bit inconsistent and a professor's letter is definitely a better option. I made the following changes and then adited the list accordingly:

-4 Max Elixir
+1 Fighting Energy
+1 Silent Lab
+1 Scorched Earth
+1 Professor's Letter

Thanks again guys!

 

[Outsidevil]

How has this deck been working out for you?

 

[leeanna36]

If you want to discard tools, there IS one post-rotation alternative. Consider BKT Raticate...you can dis tools for one [C]. (And Raticate BREAK isn't too shabby either...)