RAPID STRIKE
This deck is intended to be used in a post-rotation SWSH1 to SWSH7 format. Modifications made to previous versions submitted here are ducomented in the update diocumentation section . The list below is the most recent version.
Pokémon (20):
3 Urshifu Vmax S5R (beatdown)
4 Urshifu V S5R (beatdown)
1 Medicham V S7R (control)
1 Passimian S5a (beatdown)
1 Basculin SGI (beatdown)
2 Inteleon S5a (beatdown)
1 Inteleon S4a (searches)
3 Drizzile S4a (searches)
4 Sobble S5a (evolve)
Trainer (30):
2 Boss’s Orders (control)
4 Prof. Research (draw)
2 Raihan (enable)
3 Marnie (draw)
2 Telescopic Sight (beatdown)
3 Evolution Incense (search)
1 Scoop Up Net (retrieve)
2 Escape Rope (control)
4 Quick Ball (search)
4 Level Ball (search)
1 Path to the Peak (disable)
2 Tower of Water (retreat)
Energy (10):
4 Rapid Strike Energy
6 Fighting Energy
STRATEGY:
The main idea of the deck is to overwhelm the opponent with fast and continuous attacks and take multiple knockouts on selected turns. Start with either Urshifu V or Sobble. The latter one is the ideal starter when going second. In either case make sure to have at least two to three Sobble and two Urshifu V out at the end of the first turn. Next turn evolve Sobble into Drizzile to search for trainer cards. Depending on the situation you can evolve Urshifu V into Urshifu Vmax and hit the opponent’s active Pokémon with Gale Thrust or aim for a turn two Rapid Flow. In the former case you can follow up with Basculin on the next turn and knock them out with Wound Swarm. In the latter case be sure to have access to Raihan to enable the next Urshifu Vmax to follow up with a second Rapid Flow. The Inteleon line is meant to stabilize the deck and ensure access to almost all needed cards. Rapid Strike Inteleon is also a nice combo with Urshifu Vmax and Medicham V who can hand the deck access to a second turn when used at the correct time.
SPOILER:
Medicham V
Bacis Fighting Pokémon (Rapid Strike)
HP: 210
[C][C] Yoga Loop
Put 2 damage counters on 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. If your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out by this attack, at the end of your turn, you can take another turn. This attack can’t be used if any of your Pokémon used Yoga Loop during your last turn.
[F][C][C] Smash Uppercut: 100
This attack’s damage isn’t affected by resistance.
Retreat Cost: CC
Weakness: P
Basculin
Basic Water Pokémon (Rapid Strike)
HP: 80
[W][C] Wound Swarm: 30+
Theis attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on your opponent's active Pokémon.
Retreat Cost: C
Weakness: L
Raihan
Trainer - Supporter
You can only play this card if 1 of your Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn. Choose 1 basic energy card from your discard pile and attach it to 1 of your Pokémon. Search your deck for any 1 card and put it in your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
UPDATE DOCUMENTATION:
While the prior decklist ran two Switch the current version above uses one Scoop Up Net to retrieve and retreat non-V Pokémon and a fourth Level Ball. I also tested two Scoop Up Net and only three Level Ball but the fourth Level Ball helped the deck out more than the second Scoop Up Net especially when you start first. In addition I included a second Raihan by cutting one Marnie.
+ 1 Scoop Up Net
+ 1 Level Ball
+ 1 Raihan
- 1 Marnie
- 2 Switch
CARD SHARK:
In this section I will outline the rational behind the card choices in the current list.
3-4 Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax: Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax is the main attacker in this deck with two usefull attacks that reflect the essence of the battle style Rapid Strike. Gale Thrust can be used for a single attachment and can deal 150 damage to the opponent's active Pokémon when Urshifu Vmax became active this turn. The number combines real well with Basculin as a follow up attacker to achieve a knock out on defending Pokémon Vmax on the second or third turn. The second attack is Rapid Flow which deals 120 damage to two of the opponent's Pokémon on the battlefield. The bench damage can be accelerated with Passimian and Telescopic Sight to hit two of the opponent's benched Pokémon for a solid 180 damage each. If you can stream that attack it is possible to knock out two benched Pokémon Vmax in two consecutive turns.
1 Medicham V: Medicham V is one of the new Rapid Strike cards released in Evolving Skies. The main selling point of this card is the attack Yoga Loop which places two damage counters on one of the opponent's Pokémon in play. While the amount of damage counters placed in this manner is nothing to write home about the side effect of the attack is phenomenal. If the opposing Pokémon is knocked out by Yoga Loop you may take another turn at the end of your turn. This means you get to draw one to three prize cards in addition to the one card you get at the start of your second turn in a row. In addition you can also evolve Pokémon on that second turn and use their abilities to help the deck to steam roll the opponent. From some initial test runs Medicham V is indeed as great as we expected it to be when the card was first revealed but I want to outline that Medicham V is not the focus of this deck. Instead the idea is to use him as a tech whenever the situation is right.
1 Passimian: Rapid Flow is one of the strongest attacks in this game and a very versatile one at the same time. Passimian is mainly used as a tech to increase the damage of Rapid Flow to opposing benched Pokémon V with it's ability Throwing Coach which increases the damage done to benched Pokémon V by 30 damage. Although you cannot use more than one Throwing Coach you can combine Throwing Coach with Telescopic Sight to hit benched Pokémon V for 180 damage each.
1 Basculin: Basculin is a great Rapid Strike attacker who combines well with Gale Thrust. Wound Swarm can be used for a single Rapid Strike Energy and deals 30 damage in addition to 10 damage for each damage counter on the opponent's active Pokémon. When using Basculin after Gale Thrust you can knock out most relevant Pokémon Vmax in the current meta in two hits. The fact that this is a one-prize Basic Pokémon that can be searched with either Quick Ball or Level Ball also helps a lot.
4-3-2-1 Rapid Strike Sobble, Drizzile SW1, Rapid Strike Inteleon, and Inteleon SW1: The Inteleon line is the backbone of this deck that stabilizes it and allows the deck to run certain tech cards without the risk to miss them when you need them the most. The four Sobble for Chilling Reign are great starting Pokémon on their own especially when going second. Keep Calling is an underrated set up attack that allows you to search for three Basic Rapid Strike Pokémon and put them on the bench for a single colorless attack. In a deck that wants to have three Sobble and one or two Urshifu V on the battlefield on the first turn this attack is golden since it sets up the battlefield and simultaneously thins out your deck. Drizzle and Inteleon from the first Sword and Shield Expansion are great search engines. Both can be searched out with Evolution Incense and Drizzle can also be accessed with Level Ball. The three Drizzle and the one Inteleon in essence can search the deck for almost any card you may need at a certain time other than energy cards. These four cards combined with Sobble are the main search and stability engine of this deck and you need to operate it wisely. Unlike Rapid Strike Inteleon Vmax decks you do not want to go all in and chain-evolve them in one turn. In most cases it might be best to have a Sobble and two Drizzile on the bench and access to Evolution Insence or Level Ball to retain search capacities on the following turn. Inteleon from the first Sword and Shield expansion is also an excellent combo with Raihan once the first Pokémon with an energy attached has been defeated. Combining Inteleon with Raihan can net the deck three to four spefic cards in one turn in addition to the energy acceleration from the discard pile. This turns the tech Raihan into a excellent comeback card which can also be used to search for Rapid Strike Energy to use Rapid Flow out of nowhere. Note that Inteleon S1W and Drizzile S1W can also be reused with Scoop Up Net. The two Rapid Strike Inteleon from Chilling Reign complement the this evolution line. Quick Shooter allows you to place two damage counters on any of the opponent's Pokémon. This can set up critical numbers for Medicham V and Urshifu Vmax to achieve a knock out.
4-3 Prof. Research and Marnie: Like all decks you want a stable draw supporter count to ensure a quick and reliable offense with Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax. Prof. Research and Marnie are the two best supporters in the game. Prof. Researchs provides the best draw support and Marnie allows you to shuffle both player's hand hand at the bottom of their respective deck. While you draw five cards the opponent only draws four cards. Marnie thus provides hand disruption in addition to draw.
2 Boss's Orders: Instant unconditional Gust effects are great in any deck. I decided to run two copies of Boss's Orders instead of the standard three copies since the deck can reach out to the bench and you can get instant access to Boss's Orders with the 3-1 Drizzle and Inteleon search engine whenever you need it.
2 Raihan: Raihan is another card that was released in Evolving Skies. When one of your Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn you may attach a Basic Energy from your discard pile to one of your Pokémon and search your deck for any card and put it in your hand. This card could be a Rapid Strike Energy, a Passimian, or a Telescopic Sight to achieve two knock outs with Rapid Flow out of nowhere. There are no limits to what can be searched for with Raihan as long as the opponent knocked out one of your Pokémon during their last turn. I have heared people complain that there are little to no comeback cards in this format after the rotation. Raihan could be such as comeback card in selected decks. I have to admid that I was not impressed with Raihan when the set was first revealed. However I started to like this card when testing a Rapid Strike Jumpluff deck focused on Mealstrom. When I examined means to chain Rapid Flow Raihan crossed my mind again and I started to give it a test run. Raihan turned out to work better than I initially though. I am not the first to use Raihan in a Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax deck. I recently came across a tourament deck report from the latest large scale tourament in Japan that had the same idea. You can also see Raihan in action in two recent videos from Japan. I did not see these videos before building this deck. However, the fact that this card has worked out fine in tournaments in Japan makes me a little more confident in this combo. Raihan iessentially allows you to use Rapid Flow out of nowhere as long as the opponent knocked out one of your Pokémon during their last turn and you have a benched Urshifu V. Note that Raihan also works on the turn after using Medicham V's Yoga Loop. If the opponent knocked out a Pokémon on their last turn you could use Yoga Loop to give yourself another turn and you may use Raihan during that second turn because technically the turn before you used Yoga Loop was the opponent's last turn to which the card text refers to. I updated this section ito include links to videos using this card in Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax decks to provide some examples of its use.
4-4-3 Quick Ball, Level Ball, and Evolution Incense: Pokémon search items have been a stable in decks for quite some time. Quick Ball can search out all Basic Pokémon in this deck while Level Ball can be used to search for Sobble, Drizzile, and Basculin. Evolution Incense, on the other hand, searches out both Inteleon and Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax. As mentioned above these search items can be turned into more general search cards due to the use of the Inteleon engine in this deck. Thus these three cards essentially provide the deck with access to almost all cards that you may need thanks to the Inteleon line.
2 Telescopic Sight: Similar to Passimian Telescopic Sight is used to increase the damage output of Rapid Flow to benched Pokémon V.
2-2-1 Escape Rope, Tower of Water, and Scoop Up Net: Personally I like to have at least four cards that allow me to switch and retreat Pokémon. I decided to almost break even on the three options chosen in this deck because each on has it's merrits. Scoop Up Net can retrieve non-V Pokémon which acts as a switch effect on the battlefield and also allows me to re-use consistency cards such as Drizzle S1W and Inteleon S1W. The downside is that it cannot move Urshifu Vmax and Medicham V out of the active spot. This can be achieved by allowing them to retreat for free with Tower of Water, or by using Escape Rope which also switches the opponent's active Pokémon with a benched Pokémon of their choice. Escape Rope also provides some disruption and a means to move defending active Pokémon to the bench. While inferior to Boss's Orders Escape Rope can be used on the same turn as one of the three other supporter cards in this deck.
1 Path to the Peak: Path to the Peak is used as a tech to shut down abilities on Pokémon V. This allows the deck to handle abilities that prevent the opposing Pokémon from being damaged by Pokémon V or Pokémon with special energies attached to them. In addition it is also a nice counter to Shadow Rider Vmax decks since it shuts down Underworld Door. in the early stages of the game this can reduce the speed of their set up while in the later stages of the game it may prevent them from recovering from a knocked out Shadow Rider Vmax within one turn. Combined with Raihan and the Inteleon search engine this may give Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax a fighting chance versus Shadow Rider Vmax and Rapid Strike Malamar.
4-6 Rapid Strike Energy, and Basic Fighting Energy: Rapid Strike Energy is the main energy acceleration engine for Rapid Strike decks which allows you to use Rapid Flow for two manual attachments. When combined with Raihan you can even get Rapid Flow going in a single turn. In addition Rapid Strike Energy also allows you to use Medicham V's Yoga Loop and Basculin's Wound Swarm out of nowhere for one attachment. The Basic Fighting energies are used to fuel Gale Thrust and Keep Calling. The deck currently runs a slightly higher basic energy card count to ensure that you can draw into them naturally and to allow you to discard some of them with Quick Ball and Prof. Research without regret.
POSSIBLE INCLUSION:
There are some cards that I would have liked to include in the deck but did not do so thus far due to deck space limitations.
Second Scoop Up Net: Reusing the Inteleon line is a fantastic feature but space limits prevented me from including a second copy of this card since it turned out to be less useful and versatile compared to other alternatives such as the fourth Level Ball or Quick Ball.
Tool Scrapper: The main reason to run Tool Scrapper would be to remove tools such as Tool Jammer, Full Face Shield, and Big Charm. All three Pokémon tools reduce the effective damage output and may force the deck to attack for an additional turn. The main reason for not including a one-off Tool Scrapper space limitations and the hope that these three tool cards may not be that common in most decklists.
Galarian Zapdos V: Fighting Instinct is a nice ability and if the opponent has three Pokémon V on the battlfield Galarian Zapdos turns into a more versatile version of Rapid Strike Basculin. Thus, depending on the meta he could be a superior choice over Rapid Strike Basculin.
VISUAL DECKLIST:
The visual decklist below shows the actual list i use at the moment minus the tech Path to the Peak which is a counter to Shadow Rider.
This deck is intended to be used in a post-rotation SWSH1 to SWSH7 format. Modifications made to previous versions submitted here are ducomented in the update diocumentation section . The list below is the most recent version.
Pokémon (20):
3 Urshifu Vmax S5R (beatdown)
4 Urshifu V S5R (beatdown)
1 Medicham V S7R (control)
1 Passimian S5a (beatdown)
1 Basculin SGI (beatdown)
2 Inteleon S5a (beatdown)
1 Inteleon S4a (searches)
3 Drizzile S4a (searches)
4 Sobble S5a (evolve)
Trainer (30):
2 Boss’s Orders (control)
4 Prof. Research (draw)
2 Raihan (enable)
3 Marnie (draw)
2 Telescopic Sight (beatdown)
3 Evolution Incense (search)
1 Scoop Up Net (retrieve)
2 Escape Rope (control)
4 Quick Ball (search)
4 Level Ball (search)
1 Path to the Peak (disable)
2 Tower of Water (retreat)
Energy (10):
4 Rapid Strike Energy
6 Fighting Energy
STRATEGY:
The main idea of the deck is to overwhelm the opponent with fast and continuous attacks and take multiple knockouts on selected turns. Start with either Urshifu V or Sobble. The latter one is the ideal starter when going second. In either case make sure to have at least two to three Sobble and two Urshifu V out at the end of the first turn. Next turn evolve Sobble into Drizzile to search for trainer cards. Depending on the situation you can evolve Urshifu V into Urshifu Vmax and hit the opponent’s active Pokémon with Gale Thrust or aim for a turn two Rapid Flow. In the former case you can follow up with Basculin on the next turn and knock them out with Wound Swarm. In the latter case be sure to have access to Raihan to enable the next Urshifu Vmax to follow up with a second Rapid Flow. The Inteleon line is meant to stabilize the deck and ensure access to almost all needed cards. Rapid Strike Inteleon is also a nice combo with Urshifu Vmax and Medicham V who can hand the deck access to a second turn when used at the correct time.
SPOILER:
Medicham V
Bacis Fighting Pokémon (Rapid Strike)
HP: 210
[C][C] Yoga Loop
Put 2 damage counters on 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. If your opponent’s Pokémon is Knocked Out by this attack, at the end of your turn, you can take another turn. This attack can’t be used if any of your Pokémon used Yoga Loop during your last turn.
[F][C][C] Smash Uppercut: 100
This attack’s damage isn’t affected by resistance.
Retreat Cost: CC
Weakness: P
Basculin
Basic Water Pokémon (Rapid Strike)
HP: 80
[W][C] Wound Swarm: 30+
Theis attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on your opponent's active Pokémon.
Retreat Cost: C
Weakness: L
Raihan
Trainer - Supporter
You can only play this card if 1 of your Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn. Choose 1 basic energy card from your discard pile and attach it to 1 of your Pokémon. Search your deck for any 1 card and put it in your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
UPDATE DOCUMENTATION:
While the prior decklist ran two Switch the current version above uses one Scoop Up Net to retrieve and retreat non-V Pokémon and a fourth Level Ball. I also tested two Scoop Up Net and only three Level Ball but the fourth Level Ball helped the deck out more than the second Scoop Up Net especially when you start first. In addition I included a second Raihan by cutting one Marnie.
+ 1 Scoop Up Net
+ 1 Level Ball
+ 1 Raihan
- 1 Marnie
- 2 Switch
CARD SHARK:
In this section I will outline the rational behind the card choices in the current list.
3-4 Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax: Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax is the main attacker in this deck with two usefull attacks that reflect the essence of the battle style Rapid Strike. Gale Thrust can be used for a single attachment and can deal 150 damage to the opponent's active Pokémon when Urshifu Vmax became active this turn. The number combines real well with Basculin as a follow up attacker to achieve a knock out on defending Pokémon Vmax on the second or third turn. The second attack is Rapid Flow which deals 120 damage to two of the opponent's Pokémon on the battlefield. The bench damage can be accelerated with Passimian and Telescopic Sight to hit two of the opponent's benched Pokémon for a solid 180 damage each. If you can stream that attack it is possible to knock out two benched Pokémon Vmax in two consecutive turns.
1 Medicham V: Medicham V is one of the new Rapid Strike cards released in Evolving Skies. The main selling point of this card is the attack Yoga Loop which places two damage counters on one of the opponent's Pokémon in play. While the amount of damage counters placed in this manner is nothing to write home about the side effect of the attack is phenomenal. If the opposing Pokémon is knocked out by Yoga Loop you may take another turn at the end of your turn. This means you get to draw one to three prize cards in addition to the one card you get at the start of your second turn in a row. In addition you can also evolve Pokémon on that second turn and use their abilities to help the deck to steam roll the opponent. From some initial test runs Medicham V is indeed as great as we expected it to be when the card was first revealed but I want to outline that Medicham V is not the focus of this deck. Instead the idea is to use him as a tech whenever the situation is right.
1 Passimian: Rapid Flow is one of the strongest attacks in this game and a very versatile one at the same time. Passimian is mainly used as a tech to increase the damage of Rapid Flow to opposing benched Pokémon V with it's ability Throwing Coach which increases the damage done to benched Pokémon V by 30 damage. Although you cannot use more than one Throwing Coach you can combine Throwing Coach with Telescopic Sight to hit benched Pokémon V for 180 damage each.
1 Basculin: Basculin is a great Rapid Strike attacker who combines well with Gale Thrust. Wound Swarm can be used for a single Rapid Strike Energy and deals 30 damage in addition to 10 damage for each damage counter on the opponent's active Pokémon. When using Basculin after Gale Thrust you can knock out most relevant Pokémon Vmax in the current meta in two hits. The fact that this is a one-prize Basic Pokémon that can be searched with either Quick Ball or Level Ball also helps a lot.
4-3-2-1 Rapid Strike Sobble, Drizzile SW1, Rapid Strike Inteleon, and Inteleon SW1: The Inteleon line is the backbone of this deck that stabilizes it and allows the deck to run certain tech cards without the risk to miss them when you need them the most. The four Sobble for Chilling Reign are great starting Pokémon on their own especially when going second. Keep Calling is an underrated set up attack that allows you to search for three Basic Rapid Strike Pokémon and put them on the bench for a single colorless attack. In a deck that wants to have three Sobble and one or two Urshifu V on the battlefield on the first turn this attack is golden since it sets up the battlefield and simultaneously thins out your deck. Drizzle and Inteleon from the first Sword and Shield Expansion are great search engines. Both can be searched out with Evolution Incense and Drizzle can also be accessed with Level Ball. The three Drizzle and the one Inteleon in essence can search the deck for almost any card you may need at a certain time other than energy cards. These four cards combined with Sobble are the main search and stability engine of this deck and you need to operate it wisely. Unlike Rapid Strike Inteleon Vmax decks you do not want to go all in and chain-evolve them in one turn. In most cases it might be best to have a Sobble and two Drizzile on the bench and access to Evolution Insence or Level Ball to retain search capacities on the following turn. Inteleon from the first Sword and Shield expansion is also an excellent combo with Raihan once the first Pokémon with an energy attached has been defeated. Combining Inteleon with Raihan can net the deck three to four spefic cards in one turn in addition to the energy acceleration from the discard pile. This turns the tech Raihan into a excellent comeback card which can also be used to search for Rapid Strike Energy to use Rapid Flow out of nowhere. Note that Inteleon S1W and Drizzile S1W can also be reused with Scoop Up Net. The two Rapid Strike Inteleon from Chilling Reign complement the this evolution line. Quick Shooter allows you to place two damage counters on any of the opponent's Pokémon. This can set up critical numbers for Medicham V and Urshifu Vmax to achieve a knock out.
4-3 Prof. Research and Marnie: Like all decks you want a stable draw supporter count to ensure a quick and reliable offense with Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax. Prof. Research and Marnie are the two best supporters in the game. Prof. Researchs provides the best draw support and Marnie allows you to shuffle both player's hand hand at the bottom of their respective deck. While you draw five cards the opponent only draws four cards. Marnie thus provides hand disruption in addition to draw.
2 Boss's Orders: Instant unconditional Gust effects are great in any deck. I decided to run two copies of Boss's Orders instead of the standard three copies since the deck can reach out to the bench and you can get instant access to Boss's Orders with the 3-1 Drizzle and Inteleon search engine whenever you need it.
2 Raihan: Raihan is another card that was released in Evolving Skies. When one of your Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn you may attach a Basic Energy from your discard pile to one of your Pokémon and search your deck for any card and put it in your hand. This card could be a Rapid Strike Energy, a Passimian, or a Telescopic Sight to achieve two knock outs with Rapid Flow out of nowhere. There are no limits to what can be searched for with Raihan as long as the opponent knocked out one of your Pokémon during their last turn. I have heared people complain that there are little to no comeback cards in this format after the rotation. Raihan could be such as comeback card in selected decks. I have to admid that I was not impressed with Raihan when the set was first revealed. However I started to like this card when testing a Rapid Strike Jumpluff deck focused on Mealstrom. When I examined means to chain Rapid Flow Raihan crossed my mind again and I started to give it a test run. Raihan turned out to work better than I initially though. I am not the first to use Raihan in a Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax deck. I recently came across a tourament deck report from the latest large scale tourament in Japan that had the same idea. You can also see Raihan in action in two recent videos from Japan. I did not see these videos before building this deck. However, the fact that this card has worked out fine in tournaments in Japan makes me a little more confident in this combo. Raihan iessentially allows you to use Rapid Flow out of nowhere as long as the opponent knocked out one of your Pokémon during their last turn and you have a benched Urshifu V. Note that Raihan also works on the turn after using Medicham V's Yoga Loop. If the opponent knocked out a Pokémon on their last turn you could use Yoga Loop to give yourself another turn and you may use Raihan during that second turn because technically the turn before you used Yoga Loop was the opponent's last turn to which the card text refers to. I updated this section ito include links to videos using this card in Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax decks to provide some examples of its use.
4-4-3 Quick Ball, Level Ball, and Evolution Incense: Pokémon search items have been a stable in decks for quite some time. Quick Ball can search out all Basic Pokémon in this deck while Level Ball can be used to search for Sobble, Drizzile, and Basculin. Evolution Incense, on the other hand, searches out both Inteleon and Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax. As mentioned above these search items can be turned into more general search cards due to the use of the Inteleon engine in this deck. Thus these three cards essentially provide the deck with access to almost all cards that you may need thanks to the Inteleon line.
2 Telescopic Sight: Similar to Passimian Telescopic Sight is used to increase the damage output of Rapid Flow to benched Pokémon V.
2-2-1 Escape Rope, Tower of Water, and Scoop Up Net: Personally I like to have at least four cards that allow me to switch and retreat Pokémon. I decided to almost break even on the three options chosen in this deck because each on has it's merrits. Scoop Up Net can retrieve non-V Pokémon which acts as a switch effect on the battlefield and also allows me to re-use consistency cards such as Drizzle S1W and Inteleon S1W. The downside is that it cannot move Urshifu Vmax and Medicham V out of the active spot. This can be achieved by allowing them to retreat for free with Tower of Water, or by using Escape Rope which also switches the opponent's active Pokémon with a benched Pokémon of their choice. Escape Rope also provides some disruption and a means to move defending active Pokémon to the bench. While inferior to Boss's Orders Escape Rope can be used on the same turn as one of the three other supporter cards in this deck.
1 Path to the Peak: Path to the Peak is used as a tech to shut down abilities on Pokémon V. This allows the deck to handle abilities that prevent the opposing Pokémon from being damaged by Pokémon V or Pokémon with special energies attached to them. In addition it is also a nice counter to Shadow Rider Vmax decks since it shuts down Underworld Door. in the early stages of the game this can reduce the speed of their set up while in the later stages of the game it may prevent them from recovering from a knocked out Shadow Rider Vmax within one turn. Combined with Raihan and the Inteleon search engine this may give Rapid Strike Urshifu Vmax a fighting chance versus Shadow Rider Vmax and Rapid Strike Malamar.
4-6 Rapid Strike Energy, and Basic Fighting Energy: Rapid Strike Energy is the main energy acceleration engine for Rapid Strike decks which allows you to use Rapid Flow for two manual attachments. When combined with Raihan you can even get Rapid Flow going in a single turn. In addition Rapid Strike Energy also allows you to use Medicham V's Yoga Loop and Basculin's Wound Swarm out of nowhere for one attachment. The Basic Fighting energies are used to fuel Gale Thrust and Keep Calling. The deck currently runs a slightly higher basic energy card count to ensure that you can draw into them naturally and to allow you to discard some of them with Quick Ball and Prof. Research without regret.
POSSIBLE INCLUSION:
There are some cards that I would have liked to include in the deck but did not do so thus far due to deck space limitations.
Second Scoop Up Net: Reusing the Inteleon line is a fantastic feature but space limits prevented me from including a second copy of this card since it turned out to be less useful and versatile compared to other alternatives such as the fourth Level Ball or Quick Ball.
Tool Scrapper: The main reason to run Tool Scrapper would be to remove tools such as Tool Jammer, Full Face Shield, and Big Charm. All three Pokémon tools reduce the effective damage output and may force the deck to attack for an additional turn. The main reason for not including a one-off Tool Scrapper space limitations and the hope that these three tool cards may not be that common in most decklists.
Galarian Zapdos V: Fighting Instinct is a nice ability and if the opponent has three Pokémon V on the battlfield Galarian Zapdos turns into a more versatile version of Rapid Strike Basculin. Thus, depending on the meta he could be a superior choice over Rapid Strike Basculin.
VISUAL DECKLIST:
The visual decklist below shows the actual list i use at the moment minus the tech Path to the Peak which is a counter to Shadow Rider.
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