The problem with weakness policy is that it can be easily removed by xerosic or megaphone, and personally I prefer bursting balloon as the tool to attach to trev.
I highly doubt most decks will run Xerosic. Even if they do, they will have to be setup pretty well in order to use it for their one supporter that turn. The key strategy people will be running is either escape ropes, pokemon catchers or Lysandre. Once they do that T2 or T4 then they dont have to worry about that item lock because more than likely you'll have something on the bench that doesnt item lock them.
As far as Yveltal goes, I don't know if I'd worry about him as much as the Darkrai/Malamar deck. Malamar putting Trevenant asleep followed by a Dark Head attack is deadly for Mr. Trevenant weakness policy or not. A guy at league asked me yesterday to help make this deck for him. I'm seeing more and more people building this deck, so Trevenant players beware.
It all comes down to how fast the lock can be established. A turn one item lock tends to be troubles for Darkness decks and a turn two item lock still is decent in that match. Remember that turn one item lock is not that likely since it requires you to go first. At any case you need to start with Phantump and have a second one on the bench as a replacement since Darkness decks will eventually knock out Trevenant. Burst Balloon is your best asset in that match since it allows you to trade favorable with Darkness deck. You need to run a deck that can stream Trevenants with little bench sitters that can help the opponent to Lysandre out of the lock. It sure is an uphill battle but far from an auto-loss. Weakness Policy does not help much since it is a dead card in all other matches and conflicts with Burst Balloon.
Weakness policy is pointless because Darkrai can still OHKO Trevenant Break with his second attack. Hard part will be for T1, if you're lucky to get it and a wally, to not have anything that can be lysandre'd up to remove item lock.
Most decks (including Darkrai/Malamar/Hypno) should start running Xerosic for Garbodor.
As far as the deck goes, I think Trevenant has the edge in speed- to set up in 2 turns Darkrai needs a Dark energy and a DCE, and if you waste your attachment on a Malamar then it just sets you back a turn. Sure there's Max Elixir, but item lock stops that. Then Trev can Xerosic off the DCE (you should be playing Xerosic in Trevenant imo) and Silent Fear a few times before bringing up Wobbuffet to sweep, locking the Malamar/Hypno's Sleep abilities.
Since we're going to speculate all the possible scenario's. Unless there's nothing to Lysandre up,just lysandre, Darkrai on bench Malamar as active, DCE on Darkrai, Max elixir on darkrai, escape rope, Trevenant Dead/ and or in serious trouble next turn. I still dont see why people would play Xerosic over a megaphone in their deck.
Since we're going to speculate all the possible scenario's. Unless there's nothing to Lysandre up,just lysandre, Darkrai on bench Malamar as active, DCE on Darkrai, Max elixir on darkrai, escape rope, Trevenant Dead/ and or in serious trouble next turn. I still dont see why people would play Xerosic over a megaphone in their deck.
Sure, that scenario could happen. But I think that's a lot to have in your hand for the one turn, and if your DCE gets Xerosic'd, you're set back a bit. I guess I'll need to play the Darkrai matchup more with Trevenant to understand more of it, but I don't think it's massively bad for the trees at the moment.
And Xerosic > Megaphone because of Item Lock and you can VS Seeker Xerosic out multiple times or whenever you need it. Megaphone is good if you want to sweep, say, a bunch of Focus Sashes off the field, but for targeted use + versatility (you can also knock off Special Energy) I prefer Xerosic. Maybe it just comes down to player preference at the end of the day.
If you're Trevenant why would you be worried about item lock? Also, using a Xerosic turn after turn instead of any other supporter? I highly doubt that it'll be worth it or that they'll be that desperate to have DCE. With Yveltal Oblivian Wing it wouldn't take long to get energy Darkrai and put Trevenant asleep. Also, no one plays a DCE unless they're attacking that turn. No matchup is impossible but definitely favorable for one over the other. Bottom line it'll come down to coin flip and draws.
4-4-3 Trevenant (ascension phantump and forest curse trevenant )
2 Wobbufet
2 Gengar EX
2 Shaymin EX
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:
2 Trainers' Mail
4 VS Seeker
4 Burst Balloon
2 Float Stone
2 Battle Compressor
1 Super Rod
3 Ultra Ball
4 Stadium
2 Wally
3 Professor Sycamore
1 Professor Birch's Observations
1 Xerosic
1 AZ
1 Delinquent
1 Misty
1 Judge
Energy:
8 Psychic Energy
2 Mystery Energy
This is a little less popular version of trevenant break because there's nothe much energy disruption. But it works pretty well. It does have trouble against rough seas mega manectric btw. I did a lot of play testing with this deck and this is by far the most solid. But I suggest you play around with it to your liking. Getting your turn 1 trevy by battle compressing out wally and thenot playing vs seeker is the easiest way to do this. My favorite thing about this deck is that it takes a big fat dump on a night marchers face. You can probably I afford to take an energy or 2. If you do that I suggest adding a lysandre or a level ball. Have fun and believe in yourself.
Because in a lot of tournaments you play mirror matches, anywhere from 1 to 2 games, having a defense against item lock I think is worth it. With Trevenent climbing power house ladder, I would go with Xersosic.
Personally, Xerosic has bailed me out of item lock a bit more than Startling Megaphone because of turn one or turn two item lock.
Having said all that, Garchomp is becoming fairly popular, with Darkria in the active and Malamar on the bench it could go south quick.
I agree. The Darkrai/ Malamar matchup will be tough. That deck is going to do well. The disadvantage is you can't plan your deck around one deck because you have no idea what deck you'll be playing against until pairings. Even at that point it doesn't matter. You have to change strategies or play your deck how it should be played to get the win. Even if it means going against a deck you're weak to. I think my son will do well with this deck, but we will see when I finish building the Darkrai deck.
I have been playing waaaaaay too much on TCGOne lately and this is the current and very sad list I came up with....as it has tech exs to deal with its terrible match ups. BTW Yes, I do know these are perversions of what trevenant break was originally meant to be, but you try figuring out better ways to counter freaking baby yveltal, primal groudon, or the most horrible and ironic match up.....seismitoad. My only comments for the below lists are that they all had low counts of wobbufett because starting with it REALLY sucks when you play 3 shaymin EX and can reliably need 1-2 on your beginning turns; and that for some reason, likely the work of Arceus, this deck is nearly immune to judge for the simple fact that 1 trainer's mail exists. 2 as long as you so much as get out trev somehow by the end of t2 of game + energy on trev you should actually be pretty fine being judged down to 4 cards. 3 The low supporter counts may look stupidly low, but you rarely need to do more than just battle compressor one of each, then vs seeker when you need them to appear. (Dear math nerds, if you like having your brain openly cry blood try doing the BS math on how this deck is nearly immune to judge for the below lists)
1 Sceptile-EX (AOR 7)
1 Jolteon (AOR 26)
3 Shaymin-EX (ROS 106)
2 Trevenant (XY 55)
1 Eevee (AOR 63)
1 Lucario-EX (FUF 54)
2 Wobbuffet (PHF 36)
2 Trevenant BREAK (BKP 66)
4 Phantump (BKP 64)
4 Rainbow Energy (XY 131)
3 Double Colorless Energy (PHF 111)
1 Fighting Energy (XY 137)
4 Psychic Energy (XY 136)
1 Super Rod (BKT 149)
3 Float Stone (BKT 137)
4 VS Seeker (ROS 110)
1 Wally (ROS 94)
4 Trainers' Mail (AOR 100)
3 Dimension Valley (PHF 93)
1 Professor's Letter (XY 123)
1 Professor Sycamore (BKP 107)
3 Professor Birch's Observations (PCL 159)
2 Battle Compressor (PHF 92)
1 Lysandre (FLF 104)
1 Switch (KSS 38)
2 Muscle Band (XY 121)
4 Ultra Ball (ROS 93)
With the above list let me explain some things, 1 I tried burst balloon and it did not work as trev always has some tool on it. 2 notice that different eevee? Yeah that's because I am NOT putting in a lightning on the off chance I get it to evolve the turn I play it, rather than attaching to whatever I need to attack with that turn because trev, needs as much energy on it as possible EVERY TURN. The turn you have it in play and don't attach nor attack is the turn you have lost the game with this deck. 3 The fighting and no grass is because 1 Lucario can easily swing matches in your favor with a fighting and muscle band on it against say malamar ex or zoroark, and its attacks require pure fighting energy and no colorless energy, unlike sceptile. 4 The only other thing I have with this particular version is that 1 I could use trevenant EX over sceptile, however it would need at least a rainbow + DCE to deal decent damage vs sceptile which can deal 140 for 1 rainbow + whatever energy + muscle band to something that's weak to it. 5 WHY U NO 4-3-2 trevenant line? I needed the space and most times the third trevenant can simply be replaced by another card that will be discarded instead of the third trevenant.
I now worry that in a fit of panic over states coming up soon and a tournament on Sunday, I am creating a monstrous perversion....TREVENANT rainbow energy TOOL BOX DUN DUN DUN! Which according to my brain....at 6 am is the only reasonable thing to do other than accepting VERY hard auto losses/very close auto losses such as toad (I really hate the cruel irony on this), P-groudon, manectric EX of any kind (seriously you have to play against it to understand true pain), ho-oh ex (I might include a regice just for this stupidly cruel deck), yveltal EX of multiple kinds, any deck that plays baby yveltal (weakness policy can only go so far, however I say that not having tested it), and entei.
The below list is my attempt at a turbo trevenant list meant to go t1, wally, and then give your opponent a box of laxatives just to drive the point across even further. This amazingly has terrible start up in terms of not getting more than 1 phantump out, and 2 shaymin EX in an attempt to turbo t1-2.
3 Trevenant (XY 55)
3 Shaymin-EX (ROS 106)
2 Wobbuffet (PHF 36)
2 Trevenant BREAK (BKP 66)
4 Phantump (BKP 64)
6 Psychic Energy (XY 136)
4 Mystery Energy (PHF 112)
4 Dimension Valley (PHF 93)
1 Super Rod (BKT 149)
1 Professor Sycamore (BKP 107)
3 Professor Birch's Observations (PCL 159)
4 Wally (ROS 107)
3 Battle Compressor (PHF 92)
3 Float Stone (BKT 137)
1 Lysandre (FLF 104)
4 Acro Bike (PCL 122)
4 VS Seeker (ROS 110)
4 Ultra Ball (ROS 93)
4 Trainers' Mail (AOR 100)
The only other comments I can make about this is that 1 it needs DCE to help it attack if you don't get t3/4 trevenant break, which is a rule for all trevenant decks. 2 it sets up even more horribly than I can possibly express through words if you don't get off what you need on your first 1-2 turns, the first turn is very important.
Last comments on playing this deck before you criticize it:
1 I DID try the gengar EX variant.....after which I got killed by yveltal Zoroark.....3 times in a row. No other comment for that is needed other than that's when I started using jolteon in the deck.
2 My glob, if I could I would put 6 vs seeker into this deck in general as well as 10 phantump so you start with it every time.
3 Yes I would say I want puzzle of time in this deck, however I cannot, for the life of me figure out where to put it in any list without killing the speed it needs to survive a few turns.
This has nothing to do with any previous posts, but I want to mention that you MUST play 4 stadiums if you just think of attacking with Silent Fear. Otherwise the Manectric/Jolteon/Water/Stuff matchup is just terrifying *smiles while playing Rough Seas*.
Interestingly enough, players running Trevenant decks have won 3 of the last local League Challenge tournaments. There are a variety of reasons (some real finals' luck, good match-ups, players' skills, etc.) for these victories, but there were also some similarities:
Most often, these players planned and had decks "designed" to get the T1 Item-lock.
Damage spread with Trevenant BREAK typically began by T2, but no later than T3. This was the strategy, and they stuck too it.
The decks were not "over-teched" but VERY CONSISTENT. Other than good decks, player skills, match-ups, and the absence of (or minimal) "bad" luck, consistency wins games.
Playing 4 Dimension Valley helps a lot.
There are some cool variants I've found in running this deck: Trevenant-Wobbuffet and Trevenant-Gengar. I even tinkered around with Trevenant-Meowstic for a while too. These decks all have their positives and negatives, and they all have the same challenges with (as mentioned earlier):
Dark decks, whether Yveltal EX- or Darkrai EX-based
Water and/or Lightning decks with healing capabilities, i.e. Rough Seas (hence, strongly consider attempting to win the Stadium war)
Energy attachment acceleration decks (e.g., Magnezone-Raikou) that can inflict heavy damage in order to 1HKO Trevenant BREAK
Also, play-test a lot too against the mirror match, for I expect Trevenant decks to be well represented at this upcoming State tournament.
In line with the previous reviews four stadiums and a tech Delinquent are needed in this deck to win the stadium war. You want to discard Rough Seas fast. Four stadiums and the tech Delinquent help a lot to accomplish this aim. You alos want the deck to be as consistent as possible. The Vs Seeker/Battle Compressor engine helps a lot. The only tech that I would consider is Wobbuffet to clean up for the last two prizes.
Lately I have been thinking ahead since I will be going to DE states, and not one of the earlier ones. By then I expect to see more dark so what are the thoughts to teching in a Manectric EX or two. These would replace the Gengar EX's I currently run and feel they don't give me much.
Interestingly enough, players running Trevenant decks have won 3 of the last local League Challenge tournaments. There are a variety of reasons (some real finals' luck, good match-ups, players' skills, etc.) for these victories, but there were also some similarities:
Most often, these players planned and had decks "designed" to get the T1 Item-lock.
Damage spread with Trevenant BREAK typically began by T2, but no later than T3. This was the strategy, and they stuck too it.
The decks were not "over-teched" but VERY CONSISTENT. Other than good decks, player skills, match-ups, and the absence of (or minimal) "bad" luck, consistency wins games.
In my testing so far, I've tried mono-Trevenant and a more teched out version. The consistency of the "mono" version far outweighs the benefits of the teched version. Everything should be focused on the T1 item lock - this typically means running high counts of Wally (at least 3), Battle Compressor and at least 2 Shaymin-EX. The only worthwhile alt-attacker is Wobbuffet but this inclusion depletes your chance of getting the T1 lock by blocking your own Shaymins and requiring a retreat etc.
Lately I have been thinking ahead since I will be going to DE states, and not one of the earlier ones. By then I expect to see more dark so what are the thoughts to teching in a Manectric EX or two. These would replace the Gengar EX's I currently run and feel they don't give me much.
You are at a crossroads: should you want to tech something into your deck to counter the expected Dark decks, you will potentially violate deck building rule #3: "make your deck as consistent as possible." If you do tech-in Manectric EX, this will offer some assistance against Yveltal EX decks, but NOT Darkrai EX decks. On the other hand, you could tech-in Hawlucha (FFI) (and Rainbow energy) to help, but this Poké will not be effective at all against either Yveltal nor Zoroark... Bottom line: I'd suggest you keep your deck as consistent as possible and accept this very bad match-up.
What are your thoughts on including weakness policy in this deck? I think that don't really hurt it consistency and helps a lot against dark matchups... maybe something like 3 ballon - 2 weakness