Discussion Situational Tech Cards you Run

ForeverRanger91

ForeverRanger91

Aspiring Trainer
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By situational tech cards, I mean cards that are often dead but can come up in certain situations. Biggest one for me is Friend Ball. It can extremely situational but with Malamar decks running around, being able to search out Lele or that one of Psychic card like Deoxys or Latios can be huge. I don't run it as much as I should though.
 
I run 1 copy of Guardians rising Sudowoodo in my buzzroc decks just so even with a Devoured field Zoroark isn't OHKOing my Baby buzz
 
ForeverRanger91 said:
By situational tech cards, I mean cards that are often dead but can come up in certain situations.
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So... TecH cards. ;) I was going to quote an old article by Obso133t (from a different Pokémon website, hence not simply linking to it) but even I thought it was too much. XP The short version is that tech originated from TecH, which itself was short for "Technical Advantage". Odd capitalization is because of early 2000's internet culture. The more... erm... technical meaning is from an old math heavy project a player who's online handle was "Lurili" crafted. Basically, formulae to determine how much cards were really helping you...

...but there was a hiccup. Usually, you wanted reliability. This meant running a single or double copy of something was almost never worth it, according to the formulae. In practice, however, frequently a single or double of something could help you "win more" against problematic match-ups and situations than it would cost you by being a dead card in more typical games. So, for example:

In my Granbull (LOT) deck, I've been running one Oranguru (UPR) for matches where I desperately need more recycling but mostly for when I encounter stall decks.

I kin haz stall 2! =^w^=
 
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I tend to run a one off Tapu Koko deck in almost all of my decks using DCE or energy acceleration. Sometimes that lone 20 damage can win you a game even in a Zygarde deck or a ZoroPod deck.
 
Back when Zoroark BKT was a popular deck and everyone was prepping against it, I always kept 2-3 Captivating Poke Puff in my deck, and it won me more matches than you might think! Ah! Those were the days when situational tech cards were always in abundance. I remember Ninja Boy catching some wind when Machamp EX became a rogue deck!
 
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With Ditto, Diancie and other prism cards everywhere Wobboffet from Lost Thunder is a tech card I think I'll start testing in decks like granbull.
 
Kashvinder Mann said:
Speaking of which, I'd like to add Magcargo with it. Really good when you get it up in any deck.
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Aye, though I think most decks should run it beyond tech level. Or at least beyond "TecH" level, if the distinction is needed.

Some decks are running just a 1-1 line, which definitely qualifies. I wouldn't even be surprised to see someone only run it as an option for Ditto {*}... and still win. ;)
 
What tech can help my Ultra Necrozma GX deck beat Granbull? It always loses, I've never won a match against Granbull, but against most other decks, it is dominating.
 
Alex Leblanc said:
What tech can help my Ultra Necrozma GX deck beat Granbull? It always loses, I've never won a match against Granbull, but against most other decks, it is dominating.
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I think it's a matter of being more careful with how you play the matchup. Play Giratina from Lost Thunder if you aren't already. Maybe 2 if you're really struggling or if Granbull is a particularly popular deck where you play. It's a very strong card for the matchup since you do just enough to KO a Granbull while you can always just bring it back after Giratina itself gets KOd. You'd probably want to ping the Magcargos on the bench each time you reanimate it.

And I think it goes without saying but do everything you can to avoid benching Ultra Necrozma, except at the very end if you can take multiple knock outs at the end using Sky Scorching Light GX (as in, you used Distortion Door 3 times on each Magcargo). And avoid benching other GXs if you can help it.

As for techs I like to run myself in my decks, I've been liking energy switching cards (Energy Switch and/or Multi Switch). I don't know if they count as "techs" since a lot of these inclusions are pretty standard nowadays. I also try to fit Field Blower in most builds as well, just to punish those reactive tools that have been pretty popular recently.
 
Is there a list of techs out there anywhere? I've been using the standard fare from the last few years.
I still play Greninja Break
 
Alex Leblanc said:
What tech can help my Ultra Necrozma GX deck beat Granbull? It always loses, I've never won a match against Granbull, but against most other decks, it is dominating.
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In the last ultra necrozma list that i played, i added one of registeel from celestial storm deal with granbull, fairy tales and gardy. Its ability also made it more tanky. However, I stopped playing ultra necrozma because it was too clunky and I couldn't really get it to run consistently enough.
 
Baby Solgaleo in my Metagross deck has saved me from many Altaria GX and safegaurd Pokemon.
 
Interesting topic. In my Expanded decks, two of my favorite techs (and used often) are Delinquent and Parallel City. For my Standard decks, although I don't consider it a tech as much as a "staple," now is Pal Pad.
 
PokeMedic said:
Is this played a whole lot between decks? When it was last played in Standard it was the stadium.
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Unfortunately, it recently rotated-out of Standard play; but, it is still a staple in my Expanded decks. It is still quite useful for both offensive (limiting my opponent's bench size and/or reducing opponent's damage output) and defensive (removing certain Pokémon from my bench) reasons.
 
Rotom Dex Poké Finder Mode!
It’s okay, but Acro Bike is better. For a less consistent, more conservative approach, especially in the presence of Oranguru, use RDPFM.
 
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