Stage one counter deck

Cuthbert

Cuthbert

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Okay, so I'm looking at building my first real deck and I had an idea of four different pokemon that would pretty much take advantage of almost any opponent's weaknesses and they're all stage 1 so speed would be half of the goal. The only components I have so far are Cinccino and Zoroark so I figured I would pitch the idea here and get some feedback before seeking out the other cards.

3-3 Cinccino
2-2 Zoroark
2-2 Donphan Prime
2-2 Lanturn Prime
1-1 Dodrio

Clearly you would max out DCE as 3 different pokemon can use it then some electric and fighting. Not sure how much I would need, 3 or 4 of each I would imagine.

I don't know if this would be a good group of Pokemon or not, but it seems that Cinccino would be good to start against just about anything before it can get evolved and set up. You can even take down a Zekrom/Reshiram 2nd without fearing outrage if you manage your bench properly.

Zoroark counters plenty of things so no real need to explain much.

Dodrio is there for obvious reasons, switching pokemon would be useful to have beneficial matchups without dumping DCE.

Donphan can tank and has speedy attacks, strong against dark, normal, and electric pokemon that are commonly played. High retreat is not my favorite thing in this setup though, maybe use Dodrio or some switches? It would be crucial to be able to shift pokemon quickly to take advantage of the opponents weakness. Donphan seems to be the best bet for fighting stage 1 though.

Lanturn lets you one shot Donphans, Reshiram, Yanmega, Samurotts/Emboars (since you will likely have at least one energy on another pokemon) and with all the DCE floating around can probably hit decent even against things that aren't weak to water or electric. It seems to be a good counter since Zoro and Cinccino are both fighting weak, (although lanturn is too) it can smoke pretty much the only fighting card most people use.

I don't have a bunch of cards yet, or much experience, but this seemed like a decent idea and there is room to add another pokemon or thicken the lines.

I figure plus powers would be good for T/S/S as well as the standard 4 collectors, communications, PONTs etc.

Anyways, if anyone has any advice or experience with something like this or if I'm a complete fool let me know. Thank you in advance.
 
Looks like a good idea but I think there's a little too much going on since Zoroark, Donphan, and Lanturn all take different types of energy. But I guess it works if you get the right types of energy out fast enough for all your pokemon. And have you thought about maybe upping the Dodrio line a bit? You know.... just in case a Doduo or Dodrio is prized and you can't have it set up when you need it. Oh and because you're running Lanturn I would maybe suggest putting in some energy retrieval in case you start running low on energy a bit. =)
 
Thank you for your input!

As far as energy necessities, for Zoroark foul play is the ideal attack which uses two colorless so including dark energy is not essential. I thought about special darks for the extra damage but it's not totally needed if I can get a plus power. As far as crucial energy, DCE and some fighting for Donphan and some electric for Lanturn.

I have several Dodrio/Doduo but I've found that starting with it totally kills everything since it contributes nothing when it's not on the bench. That is the danger of increasing the line, but it is important to have the switching power. But yes, that is a consideration for consistency.

As far as Lanturn, it does not consume the energy for its attack as far as I know. It just uses it as a multiplier. If you are looking at this in a way I'm not or if I'm totally wrong please let me know.

Thanks again!
 
IMO I think the Cinnocinno line should be dropped because Zororark counters everything it does, but better. I would do - 3-3 Cino and + 1-1 Zororark, and just use the other 2-2 for other trainers or energy. Maybe a couple cleffa or Manaphy?
 
Yeah! Definitely add in a Cleffa or Manaphy lke minimidget said cause those two are really awesome to start with and they'll help you get set up faster. :D
 
The thing about Lanturn is, once you kill a Donphan with it, they will just bring up one of the two other ones that are on their bench, or the Fighting type they are using is weak to Psychic. Lanturn isn't the best counter to Donphan, but it works great against Yanmega, and can get some kills on things like Reshiram, so I think that it should stay. I feel that the best way to counter other Donphan could be with Donphan itself, as long as you have enough energy to where you can build up Heavy Impact comfortable. You can play Ruins of Alph for Yanmega. Another thing that couldn't hurt to play is Reshiram, reducing Kingdra's damage output to 20 is always nice.

Edit: Didn't feel like making another post, but for the record, everything StealthAngel667 says below me is excellent.
 
Zoroark is imo one of the most overrated piece of fail cards ever. It's always too late and never too great. If Jumpluff was more popular, maybe. But copying a Magnezone Prime, losing 2 energy and you can't even get rid of it? Nope.
Fire lists can just play around it and even copying Reshiram is not the greatest thing ever. Copying a Donphan means you get yourself slaughtered next turn.

Just...go 4-4 Cincinno, 2-2 Dodrio since you have the space and it sucks if it's prized, and a single Bouffalant probably. Bouffalant is amazing against the T1 Zekrom matchup and gets good hits in in other matchups as well.
 
StealthAngel667 said:
Zoroark is imo one of the most overrated piece of fail cards ever. It's always too late and never too great. If Jumpluff was more popular, maybe. But copying a Magnezone Prime, losing 2 energy and you can't even get rid of it? Nope.
Fire lists can just play around it and even copying Reshiram is not the greatest thing ever. Copying a Donphan means you get yourself slaughtered next turn.

Just...go 4-4 Cincinno, 2-2 Dodrio since you have the space and it sucks if it's prized, and a single Bouffalant probably. Bouffalant is amazing against the T1 Zekrom matchup and gets good hits in in other matchups as well.
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Zoroark is not overrated, Magnezone prime's attack can also use other pokes' energies for the attack. It can get some prizes from reshirams/zekroms with sp.dark easily. If it's too late then you played tcg wrong or really horrifying luck.
 
Yeah.... Zoroark definitely isn't overrated. And something that you have to remember is that not EVERYONE plays the main metagame decks. There are plenty of people who don't and that's mainly where foul play can really come in handy at times.
 
So far in my experience with Zoroark it's either exactly what I need or not the least bit useful. I haven't really had much trouble in knowing when to play it. Obviously if your opponent's attack sucks, so does Zoroark so you don't use it then.

I don't really get the Bouffalant idea. If I were running several Cinos, why use the DCE on the buffalo? I understand the usefulness against T1 Zekrom but running one buffalo would mean it's likely not there when you need it no? Other than that instance I don't see it being too great since Cinos can do more damage for the same/less energy while expanding on fighting weak pokemon that can't kill a donphan. Maybe I'm just not seeing something.

I don't have any experience with cleffa or manaphy but they both look pretty decent. I know I can get ahold of a couple of cleffa so I'll give it some thought. Thank you again for everyone's input. Again, I don't have most of the cards on my list so I can't really test them out, but that means I can keep my options open from good advice.
 
Donphan seems really out of place, especially since if you want to use Heavy Impact, that's a straight 3 fighting. And if you use too much of EQ, you'd be compromising the HP of already-low 90 HP Stage 1s.

My hint: Stick with Zorocinno. The lifeblood of a Stage 1 deck is speed, and running too many different lines compromise that. The bane of a Stage 1 deck is HP, so you need to be fast and prepare for many OHKOs from your opponents. I'm talking 4-4 Catcher Seeker and as many Scoop ups as you need, to drop new Stage 1's ASAP. BTS would be soooo welcome now...

So I say something like a 3-3 Cincinno and a 2-2 Zoroark with some sort of support, such as 1-1 Dodrio, 1-1-1 Reuniclus, 2-2 Weaville, 1-1 Slowking, 1-1-1 Vileplume, etc. Oh, and if you want more power try for dark Stage 1's, such as Mandibuzz or Honchkrow. Honchkrow would be wonderful for cycling, getting damage all over your opponent's Pokemon and paving the way for OHKOs from Cincinno.
 
i once thought of this but with donphan/samurott/lanturn. same idea, obviously without cincinno because it hits nothing but RDL for weakness, but the deck still abuses DCE and rainbow to the fullest. Lanturn is second as a fire/donphan counter to samurott, so why not use him instead? lanturn is still there to hit any water and yanmega for weakness
 
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