Rayeels! Swimming through tier 1
So here it is! My second weekly breakdown of a deck. This time we are going to take a look at the Rayeels deck!
From my experience with the first breakdown (which you can find if you follow this link: http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/thread-masters-bw-on-weekly-breakdown-week-1-hammertime?page=2 ) I have learned that quiet a few things could be added in, for an example the diffrent %-chance for beating the other decks in the meta and telling you how to beat the diffrent decks in the meta.
I AM ALSO WORKING ON A YOUTUBE ACCOUNT, where I will make a video with all of my breakdowns and upload them to Youtube, there will also be vlogs from tournaments, gameplays from both real life and PTCGO (Pokemon Trading Card Game Online), and much much more! Other people from denmark will also be helping me out.
The Rayeels deck focus on the unlimited damage combo between Eelektrik with Dyna Motor, and Rayquaza EXss attack Dragon burst, which lets you discard either all the {f} or all the {L} energies. The point with this deck is of course to discard your {L} energies with Computer Search, Juniper, Ultra ball, and Rayquaza's attack. You dicard your {L} energies then you Dyna Motor them back onto your Rayquaza EX and this will result in a minimum of 180 (160 if they have eviolite on a basic pokemon) each turn, keeping in mind that you have at least 2 eels on your bench and a {L} energy in your hand each turn. This means that you are able to OHKO every single ex in the game, as long as they don't have an eviolite attatched. this makes it a all around good attacker against any deck you could ever face in the current meta's tier 1 and 2. But, Rayquaza and his eels can't do it all on their own, they need help. And they will get that help from pokemons like Zekrom, Raikou EX, and The normal Rayquaza {dra}. Keep in mind that these are MY must-have-in-deck "helpers" and can be changed depending on your play style, and your tech cards.
This is a skeleton of the deck:
13 Pokemons:
4 Tynamo NVI 38
Simply because 30 HP is a bad thing with landorus around and the fact that paralyzing on turn 1 seems a pretty solid start (if you have to) since you won't be able to hit hard the first turn.
3 Eelektrik NVI
There is no Rayeels without eels. To be able to Dyna Motor your used energies back is a nice way to keep a damage circel, which is hitting for 180 per turn, going on and on. A 4-4 line on this seems obvious.
3 Rayquaza EX
I am not saying that you will need 3 Rayquazas, but since this is your primary attacker and starter you wonna up the chance of starting with it and not having it prized. Only playing 2 and having 1 prized is almost an auto lose. And with 3 you can also discard 1 without worries with your Ultra Ball, Juniper, Computer Search and other trainer cards.
1 Rayquaza DV
Well you need something for those darn Sigilyphs, and why not just use a Pokemon which helps you in the mirror match to? Rayquaza is a perfect card for this deck, it hits for a safe 90 Shred, it can OHKO Swablu, Gible, Deino, and Tynamo which gives this deck the turn 1 win ability with Dragon Pulse! Shred can OHKO an opposing Rayquaza EX, even if it has Eviolite on it since Shred goes through that kind of stuff. Rayquaza is an amazing card for this deck as I said earlier. With 120 HP, the possibilty to at maximum 2HKO every single EX in the current format, and only giving away a single prize when KO'ed, this card is a must in this deck IMO.
1 Raikou EX
I honestly don't like this card that much, but I can't say that it isn't needed. You have absolutely nothing to snipe pokemon which you weren't capable of OHKO'ing. This is where Raikou steps in and fires his Volt Bolt for a nice prize or 2. 100 damage to any pokemon on your opponents side of the field for the cost of all the {L} energies which are attatched to your Raikou EX, this seems as a fair trade when you play eels to get the {L} energies back. It is also capable of OHKO a Tornadus EX with an Eviolite OR Aspertia City Gym in play, Keep in mind it can't OHKO it if Eviolite AND Aspertia City Gym is in play at the same time.
That should do it for the Pokemons. On to the Trainers!
30 Trainers:
4 Juniper
It is the best supporter for this deck. Being able to Discard all your {L} energies and then draw 7 new cards is a nice way to get started.
4 N
In the late game, you won't need that many cards since it this is a "rence and repeat" kind of deck. So being able to max out N is a great thing, also because you probably will start of by giving away a prize or 2.
2 Skyla
Being able to search for any trainer is insane with this deck. You could find a Level Ball for your eels, a Ultra Ball for your Rayquaza, eels and/or to discard some energies, a catcher for a vital KO, Max Potion for some heal, Eviolite to survive for the next turn, and much much more. The possibilities are endless with Skyla and this deck.
3 Bianca/cheren
The endless battle between Bianca and Cheren. I believe that Bianca is better in 90% of the decks in this format since the most decks has a playstyle which goes through discarding or playing a lot of cards and then play their supporter (Keldeo/Blastoise, Darkrai variants etc.), but we will save that discussion for another time. Bianca seems the best card for this deck since you play Computer Search, Ultra Ball, Level Ball, and many other cards which keeps your hand from growing over 4. For that reason I see Bianca as the better play in a Rayeels deck.
3 Ultra ball
Discarding and being able to find the pokemon you need. Again, this is a perfect card for this deck and I se no reason AT ALL not to play at least 3 copies of this card in a Rayeels deck.
3 Level Ball
This card helps you find your Tynamo and your eels. You might want to play 4 copies of this, I know for a certain that I would but it is fine to only play 3 if you need that single tech card. 4 is a fantastic amount but 3 also works.
2 Eviolite
This card seems to be removed from all Rayeels deck and I see no reason at all why people would remove these gifts send from god from their respective owner. Eviolite turns your Rayquaza into a OHKO'ing machine which will leave the field after a minimum of 2 hits from any pokemon EX beside a Mewtwo EX with 9 energies or a keldeo EX with 7 {W} energies attatched. This card has to be in any version of Rayeels. It is gods will!
1 Super Rod
Since Landorus EX is around, you might have to face the fact that you will lose quiet a bit of your eels, so you want to have a way to get them back. Super Rod lets you shuffle in 3 pokemons, energies or a combo of those 2 type of cards, into your deck from your dicard pile.
2 Skyarrow Bridge
Okay so in a perfect world, (which isn't very unlikly with this deck) you want to have 3 eels and a Rayquaza EX with a {R} energy on your bench and a Rayquaza EX with a {R} energy as your active and you want to have Skyarrow Bridge in play. If this is your setup, then you pretty much have the game in your hand. You are capable of dealing a minimum of 180 dmg per turn, by using Dyna Motor three times on your benched Rayquaza EX then attatch a lighting energy from your hand IF it is necessary, if it ain't then don't waste it. If they play a eviolite to an EX and you are only capable of dealing 160 since they have Eviolite attatched, then you might get into a tough situation. But simply just rence and repeat the above and you should do fine in any EX match-up.
3 Pokemon Catcher
Catchering out Pokemons which your opponent tries to power up, will win the games for you anytime. Catcher is a broken card and has to be in every deck. Not much explanation has to be done here.
1 Tool Scrapper
This card can save you an energy vs. any EX in the current format. It is a must have in this deck since not being able to OHKO everything, might give your opponent the chance to win, which of course is bad.
1 Energy Retrieval
You might find this wierd, but it is a amazing card. Sometimes you might need some [R} or [L} energies and you have no way to get them back into your hand after you have used your Super Rod.
3 Switch
You probably won't attatch energies to your eels, unless you can afford it, and your Rayquaza DV also has a whopping 3 retreat cost, so switches are nice to have around since you can't Dyna Motor to your active Pokemon.
That is it for the most important trainers, on to the energy line.
12 Energies:
7 {L}
5 {R}
{L} for Dyna Motor and Rayquaza KOs, you want to discard {L} energies with Dragon Burst everytime unless you find a way to put your oppoent in a bad position by discarding your {R} energies.
{R}
Believe it or not. Their actually is some strategy when Choosing your fire energies. Since they are so important for this deck make sure that every single {R} energy in your deck doesn't look the same as one of the others! Why is this a good thing to do? Because then you can keep track on how many {R} you still have in your deck without even searching through your deck. Let's say that you are in a late game scenario, your opponent, or yourself for that matter, plays an N. You know you will need at least one more {R} energy beside the one you already had in your hand before N was played. You draw your cards and you get a {R} among them. But if they all are from the same set and looks like each other. then you can't be sure if you have more {R} energies in your deck. no matter the chance of you drawing the same card from the N as you had before the N there still is a percentage of a chance of that happening. This strategy could be used with every single card as long as you have the same amount of different copies of the card as the amount of spots this specific card has in your deck.
Keep in mind that this is MY version of a skeleton list of the Rayeels deck, it can change from player to player.
Pokemons are done, trainers are done, and energies are done. 12+32+12= 56, so we have 4 free spots for tech cards.
Now when we are done with that, lets take a look at the diffrent match-ups and tech cards for those match-ups.
The point of this is to tell you which card you should add if these specific decks are beingplayed a lot in your area. In the end, I will tell you what I personally would choose.
Match-up list:
Keep in mind that these are from my personal experiences.
the first mention number in percentage is Rayeels and the second number is the opposing deck.
VS. Darkrai variants 60%-40%
Their only hope is to KO your eels before you get setup, if they succeed, then you will have a hard time winning, if they don't succeed, then you have the game wrapt up in your hand.
Techs VS. Darkrai variants could be prism energies and Terrakion with realiate. if they KO 1 of your pokemons, then you have the element of surprise since you are have terrakion and prism in hand, and a eel on your bench, this is perfect for a surprise retaliate out of nowhere.
I would add 2 Terrakions 2 Prism energies, remove one {R} energy, since you know have Prism, and add another Tool Scrapper. You want to be able OHKO every single Darkrai they sent up, and you will need Tool Scrapper for this.
You want to play the normal strategy.
VS. Darkrai/Hydregion 65%-35%
The whole idea with Darkrai/Hydregion is to heal all the dmg of their Darkrais, but that isn't possibility when you OHKO everything. So, against Rayeels, Darkrai/Hydregion is like a Darkrai deck, just slower.
Tech cards here would be the 4th Level Ball for faster setup, and again I would add 2 Prism and 1 Terrakion with retaliate but also another Rayquaza DV since you might have to face Sigilyph. I know this would be a total of 61 cards, but just remove the {R} just as before since you add two new energies.
VS. Ho-oh variants 60%-40%
Well, it is hard to tech against this deck since it plays so many diffrent pokemons, but I would add a Keldeo EX, 2 Prism energies for Landorus and Ho-oh, and a Zekrom for those Tornadus EX and Bouffalants. So this is why you would Choose the normal Zekrom over Zekrom EX:
1. The normal Zekrom only gives away 1 prize.
2. The normal Zekrom can ohko Tornadus EX with 1 energy less then the EX version.
3. The Zekrom EX needs 1 more energy then the normal version to do anything usefull.
4. The normal Zekrom can hit turn after turn which they EX can't unless you use glinting claw (but why would you do that?), or if you waste a switch on it.
5. The normal Zekrom is a pokemon you can afford to start with.
6. . The normal Zekrom can be saved until you have to play it since it only needs 3 energies to attack, where the EX version has to be played the turn before you have to use it which, ruins the surprise element and might make your opponent change his way of playing making your Zekrom EX useless.
7. The normal Zekrom has a retreat cost of two where the EX version has a retreat cost of 3.
VS. Empoleon 40%-60%
Not much to do against this deck, since it takes two prizes every time you take one.
Your only shot is to KO their basics with Rayquaza DV for some easy prizes before they setup and then start hitting with Rayquaza EX when it is safe to trade prizes. Raikou EX could also do some wonders. Thunder Fang for those small piplups then follow up with Volt Bolt.
Good techs for this match-up would be +2 Rayquaza DV since this is your savior in this match-up. An Eelektross could also do something special in this match-up since it only needs 2 energies to OHKO piplups and it needs 3 energies to beat down those empoleons. This is 1 big bet to make since it probably would get KO'ed the following turn. I would not recommend Eelektross since it would costs you a Dyna Motor. Max potion will be a card which lets your Rayquaza EX do its job.
+2 Rayquaza DV and +2 Max Potions makes this a better match-up.
VS. Keldeo/Blastoise 60%-40%
It is always a good idea to go for those small Squirtles if you can, but if they have 2 of them on the bench, target Keldeo right away. You will pretty much win this game if you take the first two prizes. +1 tool scrapper, +1 Ultra Ball, + 1 Level Ball, +1 Eel, and +1 Eviolite or something, the 5th card here isn't important so add what ever you would feel is important.
VS. Klingklang 95%-5% if the chance of you winning isn't bigger..
Klingklang is like hydregion just with diffrent attackers, aaand the fact that it is just as slow as Regigigas with slow start and all his speed in the bottom and with parahaxs on.
you are ready to take prizes from turn 2 maximum 3. Klingklang first gets started at round 3 or 4 also it will lose all its energies when its active gets KO'ed, it has nothing to OHKO you back, and even if it had you would take another 2 prizes the following turn.
Tech what ever you want, if you lose this match you better have had a bad start or else you truely have some problems.
VS. Tornadus EX/Garbador Variants 60%-40%
Raikou EX can OHKO Garbador and Tornadus EX unless they have Aspertia City Gym in play, and an Eviolite under Tornadus EX. Play your normal game, but focus a bit more on Raikou EX. I would add two Zekroms, +1 Ultra Ball and an eel. This should secure you win against these kind of decks
the cards I would use as techs
Okay so I have 4 cards to do good with? Fine, +2 Zekroms since they are beasts in this deck, a 4th Ultra Ball for consistency and a 2nd Rayquaza DV, for the mirror match.
THAT will conclude this weeks breakdown! Thanks for taking your time reading through all of my content. Some of the cards might seem wierd to you but I place consistency over anything else, and mathematical, this is the most consistent way to play the deck.
Feedback is always appreciated, in PM's or in other replies to this thread. Cya!
