I decided on Yveltal/Raichu (it was either this or DarkGarb, and seeing how the meta was looking I finally decided to play this). I ended up 5-4 which is pretty average, but not fantastic. It definitely doesn't compare to last year when I got Top 16 and was 8-1 the first day lol.
Pokemon:
- 3 Yveltal EX
- 3 Pikachu XY
- 3 Raichu XY
- 2 Darkrai EX
- 1 Keldeo EX
- 1 Jirachi EX
- 4 Professor Juniper
- 4 N
- 4 Bicycle
- 2 Colress
- 2 Lysandre
- 4 Ultra Ball
- 1 Level Ball
- 4 Hypnotoxic Laser
- 2 Virbank City Gym
- 4 Dark Patch
- 3 Muscle Band
- 1 Professor's Letter
- 1 Computer Search
- 7 Darkness Energy
- 4 Double Colorless Energy
Strategy:
Everyone basically knows the strategy of this deck (I.E. Power up Yveltal and hit swinging with Evil Ball. Use Raichu and Darkrai for backup attackers and Keldeo EX for Status.), so instead I think I'll go over my card counts that might seem a little weird to people.
3-3 Raichu, 2 Darkrai EX
I knew for my deck for Nationals I wanted a more Raichu based deck rather than an Yveltal based deck as I knew the field would be Yveltal, Pyroar, and occasionally Lugia. However, I know Yveltal is probably the best attacker in the format and I already had my mind set on playing a Darkness Deck. I quickly bumped up my Yveltal/Raichu deck from a 2-2 to a 3-3 because of this, and I have to say I definitely made the right choice on that one. I was easily able to stream Raichus and used them as the main attacker half the time
I heard people were playing only 1 Darkrai now! That's so weird to me, I use Darkrai as an attacker probably 75% of games and I couldn't imagine not having 2 around. Also, this is mainly an ability based deck anyway, 2 is necessary.
1 Jirachi EX, 1 Keldeo EX & No Switch
Jirachi is my 2nd favorite card to come out of the plasma sets by far, and I used him to bail me out of dead hands and get that game winning Lysandre more than just once at the tournament (probably like 7 times idk). He's good! And with the amount of basics I'm running, I only started with him one game out of the 9 Bo3's I played.
I favor Keldeo over switch due to my thought process of Garbodor being so hyped, no one would play it (I only played it 1/9 too, so my meta calling skills are on par so far). I also like the thought of a perma-switch. It helped my a ton of games (except against Garb where it LOST me a game to a coin flip, but Keldeo - you're a pretty cool guy still)
4 Ultra Ball, 1 Level Ball
I'm really only playing 4 so that I can get rid of those darks early game, and because I'm playing the 4 Bicycle. I really don't know how it would've changed my performance had I gone to only 3
Level Ball = FANTASTIC
Bails me out with Jirachi and gives me a 4th Pikachu/Raichu
Love It - Just don't question me lol
1 Professor's Letter & 7 Darkness, 4 Double Colorless Energy
My friends all decided that they would go to an 8 dark no letter count. But in my testing I always found that if I had letter, I had Ultra Ball. So I stuck with it. Generally 8 in combination of these cards is the right way to go.
Most people opted to take a DCE out for a Dark. I say "nay", mostly due to the fact I'm running Keldeo, and it is more Raichu based. I also like to Y Cyclone a lot.
Obviously, I did get 4 losses (one was to a laser flip afhfnlepfuhsidlunfs), so the deck wasn't perfect. And honestly it wasn't the list, or the misplaying (I had a few obvious ones lol). In retrospect I wish I would've just played a different deck all together. IDK what it would've been, but I don't think Yveltal was the play. I probably should've just played Plasma.
Hindsight is 20/20
Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know your guys' thoughts.
Glad to be back
