Rainbow Road - Xerneas BKT

Asclepius24

Asclepius24

Aspiring Trainer
Member
This thread is for all discussion of competitive Rainbow Road variants in the Standard format. This includes strategies and matchups.

You may post decklists here, but only as a means to add to the discussion. If you're looking for advice on your list, please post in the Deck Garage.

Rainbow Road Skeleton List:

Pokemon: 15
  • 4 Xerneas BKT 107
  • 2 Joltik STS 41
  • 2 Galvantula STS 42
  • 2 Pawniard STS 63
  • 2 Bisharp STS 64
  • 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
  • 1 Volcanion-EX STS 26
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 30
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 N
  • 2 Lysandre
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 2 Max Elixir
  • 2 Float Stone
  • 2 EXP. Share
  • 1 Super Rod
  • 2 Sky Field
Energy: 11
  • 7 Fairy Energy
  • 4 Double Colorless Energy
Open spots: 4

Notes:
  • Some lists choose to run Parallel City defensively to prevent their bench from being limited by an opponent's Parallel City.
  • Other variants of Rainbow Road run a variety of Pokemon-EX and Hoopa-EX instead of some dual-type Pokemon. Options include Giratina-EX, Flygon-EX, and an additional Volcanion-EX.
 
I think that Pokémon Ranger should be considered with the deck, since the most viable attacker, Xerneas, can get walled by Jolteon, so Pokémon Ranger would let you hit the Jolteon
 
AquaDragon82 said:
I think that Pokémon Ranger should be considered with the deck, since the most viable attacker, Xerneas, can get walled by Jolteon, so Pokémon Ranger would let you hit the Jolteon
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Actually, Xerneas gets past Jolteon so easily, it's comical. I use Rainbow Road as my main deck, and I can come back from anything but late game dead draws.
Hoopa-EX variant of the deck is the good variant, and instead of playing 4 spaces dedicated to Bisharp, I can use 2 spaces for Umbreon-EX(It has 1 retreat, and gets rid of early-game dead draws) and Stardust Jirachi, which both have single-handedly saved me the game. Although you can run Pokémon Ranger, I highly suggest not to. 2 Lysandre and Escape Rope(And I guess Galvantula) can get you past just about anything
 
gumball51321 said:
Actually, Xerneas gets past Jolteon so easily, it's comical. I use Rainbow Road as my main deck, and I can come back from anything but late game dead draws.
Hoopa-EX variant of the deck is the good variant, and instead of playing 4 spaces dedicated to Bisharp, I can use 2 spaces for Umbreon-EX(It has 1 retreat, and gets rid of early-game dead draws) and Stardust Jirachi, which both have single-handedly saved me the game. Although you can run Pokémon Ranger, I highly suggest not to. 2 Lysandre and Escape Rope(And I guess Galvantula) can get you past just about anything
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You should play ranger as a way of stopping jirachi and lone Jolteon ex shenanigans. Sometimes the simple inclusion of a card in a deck is enough to discourage defensive plays as the route to victory.
 
LightningCloud224 said:
You should play ranger as a way of stopping jirachi and lone Jolteon ex shenanigans. Sometimes the simple inclusion of a card in a deck is enough to discourage defensive plays as the route to victory.
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Fairly good point. I honestly should know by now that my opponent having a lone mon out could potentially screw me over, especially since I use that tactic to win myself. Thanks for the reminder :)
 
I would like to vouch for Mew FAC as a solid secondary attacker. Maybe not more than one per deck, but it provides a good backup if you're lacking Xerneas and helps to play into the damage as well. I like to play 2 level balls and a Mew in my deck so I can get quick searches on Mew, Pawniard, Joltik, and Galvantula. But it's all up to preference, of course.
 
This may just be me, but do you really need sky field at this point? Maybe a 2 fairy gardens instead and use the space of float stone for something else?
 
mfs2199 said:
This may just be me, but do you really need sky field at this point? Maybe a 2 fairy gardens instead and use the space of float stone for something else?
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I've been running mine with two fairy garden and a float stone just in case. It has been working really well, and keeps my underpowered Xerneas with Exp. Share from getting stuck out in the active spot.

But sky field is super helpful too.
 
carrotfoot said:
I've been running mine with two fairy garden and a float stone just in case. It has been working really well, and keeps my underpowered Xerneas with Exp. Share from getting stuck out in the active spot.

But sky field is super helpful too.
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I was saying more because of how many types can he really have on the bench, Volcanion, shaymin, Galvantula, Bisharp and Xerneas, thats the ideal situation I would think, and replacing a float stones with other things to make this a more consistent bench would give you best turn 2-3 knockouts and keep knocking out
 
A problem this deck has is that the only attacker capable of taking a reliable knockout is xerneas who is easy to disrupt and knockout.
 
Went 4-0 at an LC for a win tonight with the non-Hoopa version of this. Ran double Hex, Parallel City and the whole thing felt clunky and I was fortunate to hit a round one "binder drop" deck and overall positive matchups. Ran 3 Elixir and 8 Fairy which were both great decisions.

Will definitely try a Hoopa build next time. Bisharp wasn't a huge help.
 
Asclepius24 said:
Went 4-0 at an LC for a win tonight with the non-Hoopa version of this. Ran double Hex, Parallel City and the whole thing felt clunky and I was fortunate to hit a round one "binder drop" deck and overall positive matchups. Ran 3 Elixir and 8 Fairy which were both great decisions.

Will definitely try a Hoopa build next time. Bisharp wasn't a huge help.
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What were the other matchups?
 
I feel like Carbink makes it harder for Xerneas to get corrupted. Scizor can't discard our basic energy without Garb(which people are dropping from the clunkiness), so they would need a Hex, and although it isn't hard to get, it can be a backfiring card, as it both wastes your supporter, if IF you even have Hammers in your hand, it's only a 50% chance you'd hit one. Xerneas doesn't completely autoloss to Scizor. It is most definitely not a good matchup, but it's at least still 20-80, so if you get a good setup, and watch your numbers, you can overcome Scizor. Galvantula is one way to help the damage output, if you can keep it alive. I should further playtest to see what I find out. Everyone, if you have experience with this deck, and its' Scizor matchup, post it please. :)
 
gumball51321 said:
I feel like Carbink makes it harder for Xerneas to get corrupted. Scizor can't discard our basic energy without Garb(which people are dropping from the clunkiness), so they would need a Hex, and although it isn't hard to get, it can be a backfiring card, as it both wastes your supporter, if IF you even have Hammers in your hand, it's only a 50% chance you'd hit one. Xerneas doesn't completely autoloss to Scizor. It is most definitely not a good matchup, but it's at least still 20-80, so if you get a good setup, and watch your numbers, you can overcome Scizor. Galvantula is one way to help the damage output, if you can keep it alive. I should further playtest to see what I find out. Everyone, if you have experience with this deck, and its' Scizor matchup, post it please. :)
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Discarding BASIC Energy is not what Scizor is supposed to do. He aims at the Sky Fields and DCE, which allow you to hit for big numbers and charge up on your second turn. And Garbodor is not being dropped for any reason. Garb is what makes this deck the most Anti-Meta deck in the current format. With Hoopa and Shaymin already in the deck, you're not wasting space with float stones. So I would prepare to deal with Garbodor more often.
 
I know someone who runs a really successful Rainbow Road deck, and she usually places top in tournaments. Instead she uses Ninja Boy and it has helped a lot, especially with that Shaymin not being such an easy target. Float Stone that Volcanion for sure! She went 4-0 against a really though competitor Saturday and got first. MScizor is an AL though. It's still a neat deck and hits super hard for a 5 place bench. Definitely run Parallel City for MRay.
 
Anthony Orosco said:
Find a way to not Auto Lose to MScizor. If you can do that, you will have me sold on this deck.
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Add Fire Energy and use Volcanion as an attacker? If you figure out how to do that, without making it too bulky and keeping consistency, you'll be knocking out trouble with MRay Steel decks and MScizor.
 
Higliphics said:
Add Fire Energy and use Volcanion as an attacker? If you figure out how to do that, without making it too bulky and keeping consistency, you'll be knocking out trouble with MRay Steel decks and MScizor.
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Volcanion takes THREE turns to power up its best attack. Plus With all of that Energy, you would have to make some serious cuts to its deck engine. Meaning a loss of fluidity and consistency.
 
Anthony Orosco said:
Discarding BASIC Energy is not what Scizor is supposed to do. He aims at the Sky Fields and DCE, which allow you to hit for big numbers and charge up on your second turn. And Garbodor is not being dropped for any reason. Garb is what makes this deck the most Anti-Meta deck in the current format. With Hoopa and Shaymin already in the deck, you're not wasting space with float stones. So I would prepare to deal with Garbodor more often.
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You know Scizor plays Cruching Hammer right? We can come back from a DCE loss, and yes, Scizor is starting to drop Garb because it's too klunky. Garb isn't what makes Scizor anti-meta, it's energy corruption and stadium discardation. If Garb were what did that, then there would be a lot more anti-meta decks right now. I was saying that Carbink helps the matchup, because the little that Scizor lets Xerneas do, letting me keep the source of Xerneas' attack(Fairy Energy) at least lets me do damage. Without Carbink, I'd have to rely on Galvantula to attack, and I'd have to Lysandre a Hoopa or Shaymin in order to hit Scizor. Even if Scizor did play Garb at this point in time, it's a 1-1 line and a Hex Maniac. Scizor yes, does go for DCE, but it would rather discard the Sky Field with the stadium bump, and at this point, it's not even anti-meta, it's a thing that everyone knows about, and we have a solid skeleton for it to be built. It's really just the new Seismitoad or this format(In terms of placement in the game, not the way it plays).
EDIT: yeah, I don't think Volcanion would help against Scizor, they can just play defensively and take the 2HKO. I just stopped playing the deck. As good as this is, it does have unfavorable matchups that are really common(Scizor, Parallel City, Volcanion, M Gardevoir, and for the Hoopa variant, Fright Night Yveltal)
 
gumball51321 said:
You know Scizor plays Cruching Hammer right? We can come back from a DCE loss, and yes, Scizor is starting to drop Garb because it's too klunky. Garb isn't what makes Scizor anti-meta, it's energy corruption and stadium discardation. If Garb were what did that, then there would be a lot more anti-meta decks right now. I was saying that Carbink helps the matchup, because the little that Scizor lets Xerneas do, letting me keep the source of Xerneas' attack(Fairy Energy) at least lets me do damage. Without Carbink, I'd have to rely on Galvantula to attack, and I'd have to Lysandre a Hoopa or Shaymin in order to hit Scizor. Even if Scizor did play Garb at this point in time, it's a 1-1 line and a Hex Maniac. Scizor yes, does go for DCE, but it would rather discard the Sky Field with the stadium bump, and at this point, it's not even anti-meta, it's a thing that everyone knows about, and we have a solid skeleton for it to be built. It's really just the new Seismitoad or this format(In terms of placement in the game, not the way it plays).
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I run 4 Crushing Hammer, but what I'm saying is the reason Scizor is good is because decks like MMewtwo, MRay, and Rainbow Road rely on DCE and Stadium to do anything. Carbink can stop crushing hammer, but Garb counters it. I think my choice of words was poor when I said Garb is the reason Scizor is Anti, what I mean is when you are constantly being set back by energy and ability disruption, things get sticky. You said that Garbodor is being dropped, but not only does the "Most powerful card in the game" (Josh Wittenkeller as he was commentating the 2016 World Championship), but so many other cards like Giritina, Volcanion, and Zoroark depend on abilities. Finally, you said that if Garb was played with Scizor, then it would be a 1-1 line with a Hex Maniac. Why would you use that since you would shut off your abilities too?
 
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