• When creating a thread in the Deck Garage, make sure that you post one deck per thread, you use the correct prefix, you have the set name/card number next to each card, you give a strategy for non-metagame decks, and give translations for all cards not available in English.

    When posting in a thread, be sure to explain all your suggestions thoroughly. Additionally, do not ask for advice in another member's thread.

Tornadus EX / Ho-Oh EX for Battle Roads

R

ryuninja

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'll be attending (hopefully) 2 Battle Roads using this build, on Sept 1 and 2nd. lmk what you think.

10
3x Tornadus EX

Tornadus is the main attacker of the deck. The speed and aggression it provides is invaluable; it is able to take early prizes and disrupt the opponent's set-up against all the top decks of the format.

2x Ho-Oh EX

Ho-Oh acts as an energy accelerator when used in conjunction with Energy Switch. It can also attack for 80-100 as early as turn one, or revive itself and start swinging in the late game when you're low on resources.

2x Rufflet DRX

Rufflet is the deck's Emolga DRX. Use it to grab Ho-Oh's and ditch them with an Ultra Ball or Professor Juniper, or grab Tornadus and use energy switch + DCE next turn for some serious damage. Also important to note is that Rufflet has free retreat with Skyarrow Bridge.

1x Mewtwo EX

Mewtwo is primarily used to counter the opponent's Mewtwo, which could deal some serious damage to your Ho-Ohs and Tornadus otherwise.

1x Sigilyph DRX

Sigilyph is used as both a Mewtwo counter and a counter to opposing Sigilyph. It's also an excellent pivot against Eels and other EX mash-up decks.

1x Bouffalant DRX

Bouffalant is another EX counter to help me trade prizes favorably. It's used to force the opponent to take that "Seventh Prize" when i don't open Rufflet.

34
4x Professor Juniper
4x N

4x Random Receiver
4x Ultra Ball
4x Pokemon Catcher
3x Super Scoop Up
3x Eviolite
3x Energy Switch
2x Tool Scrapper

3x Skyarrow Bridge

Super Scoop Up is used in place of Switch or Max Potion because of SAB giving all my poke 0 or 1 retreat, and Tornadus being so much easier to set back up with DCE in hand than in discard.

Eviolite is Used to give my 160 and 170 HP EXs some extra bulk and help them survive 2 night spear and the like. It also helps my Bouffalant wall EXs more effectively, and make Rufflets on my bench more difficult to snipe.

16
4x DCE
3x Psychic Energy
2x Fire Energy
2x Lightning Energy
1x Water Energy
1x Grass Energy
1x Fighting Energy
1x Darkness Energy
1x Metal Energy
 
Looks good. Pretty much what I'm running with little differences which are my preference. For me, I've always ran with 3 Ho-Oh's, just more flips to revive one of them, but I don't run Bouffalant. You might be onto something, but if you are looking for things to change, I'd test those two. I also run 2 sygliphs just for the whole "EX decks will love you" and you can wall pretty much most decks which run them. These are all things that are just tests that you can play around with and depending on what the competition is like around you.

All in all, a riveting deck ol' chap!
 
KadyShack707 said:
Looks good. Pretty much what I'm running with little differences which are my preference. For me, I've always ran with 3 Ho-Oh's, just more flips to revive one of them, but I don't run Bouffalant. You might be onto something, but if you are looking for things to change, I'd test those two. I also run 2 sygliphs just for the whole "EX decks will love you" and you can wall pretty much most decks which run them. These are all things that are just tests that you can play around with and depending on what the competition is like around you.

All in all, a riveting deck ol' chap!
Click to expand...

care to post or pm me your decklist?

as for 3 ho-oh, i played it at 3 up until a couple weeks ago. i decided that there were too many games where i was forced to start ho-oh (not too uncommon when ho-oh made up 1/3 of my poke line-up) and that it severely slowed my set-up and forced me to either waste super scoop ups on my starter ho-oh or to sacrifice prizes or a turn of energy to retreat it. with 2 ho-oh the deck focuses significantly less on setting up ho-oh asap. the decreased chances of starting ho-oh also allows me to run 0 switches which frees up deck space.

as for bouffalant vs sigilyph, they're both good in different situations. running just one or the other will leave you weak in certain match-ups.

here's a pro/con list for the two:

Sigilyph

pros:
ex's cant touch dis
psychic typing lets it OHKO sigilyph, OHKO mew ex (with 1+ energy), and OHKO/2HKO mewtwo (OHKO if 4+ energy)
1 retreat cost (0 with SAB)


cons:
POOR DAMAGE OUTPUT
- barely scores a 3HKO on ex's with energy
- forced to 4HKO any ex with eviolite and less than 3 energy, or any ex with 0 energy
- forced to 4HKO raikou ex and darkrai ex (with 2 or less energy on the first psychic)
fragile body makes it susceptible to OHKO by any popular non-ex
requires specific energy to attack

Bouffalant

pros:
most ex's are forced to 2HKO or 3HKO
tank hits from any pokemon well with eviolite
2HKO any ex
colorless energy requirement

weakness:
still gets killed and is affected by special conditions of EXs (although you still trade 1 for 2 prizes)
2 retreat cost which means you still have to discard an energy with SAB
fighting types?

overall bouffalant is the more versatile threat, and can set-up more consistently than sigilyph. out of the top decks this format, bouffalant is better in the garchamp and empoleon match-ups, while being equally good if not slightly better against darkrai. sigilyph is only better in the raikou eels match-up (and barely so if the opponent is maining zekrom) and against rogue garbodor decks.

i'm estimating my local meta for the upcoming BR (around 50-60 ppl) to be divided up something like this:
25% Garchomp
25% Darkrai/Hydreigon
20% Eels (less than half of which run mewtwo)
10-15% Garbodor Variants (2 Terrakion/EX and 1 Sableye/Darkrai variants at my shop alone)
15-20% Rogue (Empoleon, EX Mash-up, Darkrai variants, Stunfisk/Groudon/Terrakion, Entei, Registeel/Klinklank, Chandelure, Ninetales/Amoongus, Emboar, Aggron/Durant, etc etc.)
 
get rid of N. so you can ultra ball the ho-oh discard 2 energy auto search the juniper and discard the whole hand. much faster and easier T1 ho-oh spawm.
 
ashtavakra said:
get rid of N. so you can ultra ball the ho-oh discard 2 energy auto search the juniper and discard the whole hand. much faster and easier T1 ho-oh spawm.
Click to expand...

Were in a format where you have to play N, cheren is kinda garbage and N is the only shuffle draw we have available, and just because ultra ball nets you a discarded Ho-oh its not always the best situation, I'd rather see an N in my hand after the opponent ko's a ho-oh than an ultra ball.
 
ashtavakra said:
get rid of N. so you can ultra ball the ho-oh discard 2 energy auto search the juniper and discard the whole hand. much faster and easier T1 ho-oh spawm.
Click to expand...

Project_Fedora said:
Were in a format where you have to play N, cheren is kinda garbage and N is the only shuffle draw we have available, and just because ultra ball nets you a discarded Ho-oh its not always the best situation, I'd rather see an N in my hand after the opponent ko's a ho-oh than an ultra ball.
Click to expand...

I think he's talking about cutting N so Random Receiver auto searches Juniper. While this is an interesting idea, it would essentially be cutting my supporter line from 12 to 8, which hurts the consistency of drawing one, and makes topdecking a supporter after an N all the more difficult.

I did briefly consider taking out the Ns for Xtranceivers, but most of the time i'd rather just have N. Often times i'll get stuck with multiple Catcher/SSU/DCE/supporters in my opening hand and i really don't want to have to Juniper away all those resources. N is good enough draw, and provides excellent disruption late game.
 
Im out of town right now, but will pm you with decklist. The bouff does look better as per the ways you have talked about. Might just add then in more than sygliph. And i personally like.using N as a refresh and as disrupt, where a mewtwo war could happen and you make your opponent get a new hand... Its also great vs mirror as when a rufflet brings ho ohs into the hand you.can sendhem back into the deapths of the deck
 
alright so quick tournament recap(s)

Sept 1 BR i went 4-2 and got 7th place. I own very few Pokémon cards IRL (i main ygo) so i mostly bum cards off my friends to play in events and just proxy for league and stuff. one of my friends who i was going to borrow some cards from didn't show on time so i had to make due with what i had for the tournament. i ended up playing the same list in the OP but -2 Rufflet +1 Tornadus EX +1 Bouffalant DRX and unfortunately -3 Catcher +1 SSU +2 Pluspower.

R1 vs Tornadus Ho-Oh mirror match

i didnt expect to see anyone else playing this deck, so i was really surprised when i saw him juniper away a rufflet turn 1. throughout the course of the game i saw that he was playing a near identical Pokémon line-up as me only -1 bouffalant -1 tornadus -1 mewtwo +1 ho-oh +3 rufflet.

we both opened well with a Tornadus + DCE, and the game progressed pretty evenly until time was called during his turn after I N'd him to 1. On my second turn in time (last turn of the game) i figured i had the game since I drew the rest of my deck with juniper...only to find that my 1of catcher was my last prize -__- GG

0-1

round 2 vs Quaza Eels

this is an interesting match-up for my deck. eviolite plays a key factor in saving me from lots of different OHKO, and sure enough i traded prizes with him via tornadus + eviolite until i dropped a sigilyph + DCE + energy switch for a surprize KO on his mewtwo taking my last 2 prizes. GG

1-1

round 3 vs Garbodor/Terrakion

after surveying the venue during the last 2 rounds it was made apparent that there were an obsene amount of garbodor decks at the tournament, i believe around 8 or 9 :O ...i had barely considered that deck when testing, but my last minute decision to put in a fourth tornadus really came in handy. i didnt worry about taking out her garbodors, i just sweeped the terrakions with tornadus + eviolite. buffer 40 off all their attacks and they're forced to 4HKO me while i 2HKO them...seems fair right? GG

2-1

round 4 vs Darkrai/Hydreigon

i really dislike this match-up. it's very unfavorable to me without catchers to prevent his hydreigon set up. fortunately i opened well and took a turn 1 prize off of tornadus + DCE + SAB + pluspower against his opening of sableye + deino. that severely slowed him down, and he whiffed a crucial max potion mid-game which cost him the game. i feel like i sacked him but oh well, GG

3-1

round 5 vs Garchomp/Altaria

I ended up having to start ho-oh (i reduced it to 2 to prevent exactly this) which wasn't too terrible as i was able to retreat ho-oh turn 2 for my benched tornadus with DCE + SAB to get an early KO on gible. i controlled the game fairly well from that point, but i got 3 tails on super scoop ups and made a risky prediction that cost me the game (the prizes were 1-2 in my favor when i sent out a ho-oh with 4 energy against his garchomp + 2 altaria, seeing as he hadnt evolved his swablu on bench even though he had a gabite in play which immediately told me the altaria was prized. the next turn he showed me the prize he had just taken off my bouffalant... altaria -__- fml).

3-2

round 6 vs Garbodor/Hammertime

i whiffed the donk but still ended up setting up a tornadus turn 2 and ho-oh turn 3 to aggro him before he could even get set up. 6-0 GG

4-2

i found out both the guys i lost to ended up 5-1 so my tiebreakers got me 7th place out of 48 attendants. true story bro...dis deck is legit.


Sept 2 BR i went 4-2 as well and got 8th place. I actually got all the cards i needed for the deck this time (yay!) so my list was just the one in the OP -2 rufflet +1 tornadus EX +1 bouffalant DRX.

R1 vs Triple Mewtwo Eels

mewtwo can be nasty, but i killed a tynamo turn 1 with tornadus, and proceeded to catcher kill 2 more eels within the first 4 turns before he could set up any of his attackers. GG

1-0

R2 vs Ho-Oh

i opened decently, but after attaching a basic energy and an eviolite to my tornadus, i played N drawing into 3 skyarrow and 3 useless trainers (i think like 2 energy switch 1 tool scrapper) and didnt draw a single energy OR supporter/RR for the next 4 turns. i ended up bringing it back, but lost in time 1-2 prizes.

tbh i was extremely pissed at this loss. from what i saw of his deck he was running a really bad version of the deck that just happens to perform extremely well vs the mirror match. he was maining no tornadus EX, mewtwo, or bouffalant. instead he decided to run 3 sableye, 3 sigilyph FML, tornadus EP, and 4 ho-oh -__-

1-1 and steaming mad

R3 vs Garchomp/Altaria

i opened well and killed a gible turn 1 with tornadus. after that i focused on catcher killing all his ataria and sustaining an attacker with eviolite to force his garchomps to 3hko me while i 2hko them. game ended quickly, 6-2 prizes. GG

2-1 and slightly less mad

R4 vs Mewtwo/Terrakion/Bouffalant

the player that won the Sept 1 BR undefeated was playing this build today. it was apparently a tweaked version of the winning Japanese nationals deck.

I catcher'd around exp share, picking off her terrakions while she tried to set up a mewtwo on bench. after getting enough energy on mewtwo to OHKO my tornadus, i played a sigilyph + DCE + Energy Switch to snipe it and leave her field energyless. SCOOP

3-1 and mildly enthusiastic about the tourney after getting a few good ygo trades in.

R5 vs Ho-Oh ...Again...

it was a teammate of that guy i lost to earlier in the tournament. they were running identical bad decks, and equally bad luck lost me this game as well. after killing 1/3 of his sigilyphs with my own, he dropped another + 2 energy switches to kill mine, leaving me without a solid answer. i played a bouffalant + eviolite and attempted to peck it to death with 60. he retreated and smacked bouffalant for 100 with a ho-oh. next turn i ripped a catcher and got the KO on sigilyph to bring the game to a state where i could feasibly win. he topped a supporter after an N to 1 TWICE, and i got 3 tails on super scoop ups which would've won me the game otherwise. back to being pissed off -__-

R6 vs Darkrai/Hydreigon

he apparently had a couple darkrai prized, because after I killed his first one the only pokemon he saw were deino and sableye. 6-0 prizes GG

the two ho-oh builds i played went 3-3 and 4-2 respectively, although the one that went 4-2 got 9th place while i burst the bubble and got 8th/64 ppl. JUSTICE! shame on them for soiling the good reputation of this deck.

overall im pretty disappointed at my lack of prizing for top 8 (championship points pfffft), but a good friend of mine got 2nd with Hammertime with a tech Tornadus EX i forced him to run today ^_^. the garbodor/hammertime deck i 6-0 last round on the Sept 1 BR ended up winning this one, which makes me curse lady luck for giving me the only 3 mirror matches possible in both tournaments, while decks i consistently DESTROY can get favorable match-ups and win.

wat u gonna do? HOOOOO HOOOOO FTW
 
We do actually have a Reports forum where you can post those kinds of reports instead of your Deck threads haha.

dmaster out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top