TyRam - For both Pros and Noobs Alike
By Gabe Cherniske (Nigel)
Introduction and Strategy Summary
Everybody knows about Typhlosion Prime. If you're a pro, a pro-noob, a pro-pro-noob, or just a noob, I'm confident that you know at least a little bit about this card. I'm also more than sure that you know about Reshiram. Well, even if you're a noob, you know that Typhlosion and Reshiram are great partners together.
Reshiphlosion is a major competitive deck in this format, and while it has been losing power lately, I'm sure that it will gain it back again. Reshiphlosion, also known as Tyram, uses Reshiram's Blue Flare attack for high, 120 damage attacks. As part of the attack, 2 energy attached to Reshiram must be discarded. Typhlosion Prime is in the deck so when the energies attached to Reshiram have been discarded, you can just Afterburner them back on to Reshiram again for the small cost of putting one damage counter on the Reshiram. Some varients of TyRam run Ninetales, which is great drawpower for the deck, especially since you discard one fire energy to draw, which you can just Afterburner right back to your Reshiram.
Even before the HeartGold/SoulSilver-on format was current, Reshiphlosion received its fair share of hype. Sadly, though, the majority of players preferred Reshiboar, which ran Emboar over Typhlosion. At that time in the game, Mr. Tea, a member of these forums, knew that Reshiphlosion was and would be superior over Reshiboar. He took a varient of it to the Spring Battle Roads of the 2010-2011 season and won first place against other, much faster decks in the HGSS-on format such as Luxchomp and Gyrados varients. So why is Reshiphlosion better? Well, On the next section of this article, you will see why Reshiphlosion is much better than Reshiboar.
Reshiphlosion...or Reshiboar?
Originally, Reshiboar was the deck that everybody thought, along with ZPST, would conquer this format. People were ignorant, though, and threw Typhlosion Prime aside as they thought that Emboar provided much better energy excelleration. They were extremely wrong. So, why does Typhlosion Prime provide better energy excelleration than Emboar? Emboar allows you to attach as many energies as you want to Reshiram, but Typhlosion allows you to only attach one per turn from your discard pile with a side effect of 10 damage. You will see why Typhlosion is better below.
1) The 10 damage side effect
Believe it or not, that extra 10 damage is better than without. The reason for this is because of Reshiram's Outrage attack. The attack does 10 damage more damage for each damage counter on it, which could be used with Pokemon Catcher if you want some quick K.O.s on basics when your opponent is trying to set up late game.
2) The energies are from the discard pile
Since the energies are from the discard pile, if you want to retreat anything, it's no problem because you can just bring those energies back to the Pokemon that you want. In Reshiboar, this can be a problem because once the energies are discarded, there's no really consistent way to get them back (Even Super Rod isn't that consistent since the energies don't go directly onto your Pokemon). Another problem Reshiboar has with this is when Emboar is Catcher'd up. You see, Emboar has a massive 4 Retreat, which would make retreating a total pain since, like I said, there is no really good way to get energies from your discard pile when you are playing Reshiboar.
Will TyRam die after Next Destinies?
Personally, I predict that TyRam will not die after Next Destinies. Reshiram can 2 hit KO the majority of the EX's, and if an EX such as Mewtwo decides to one-shot it, you could just bring up a new Reshiram, Afterburn the energies back onto it, and kill it. 2 prize cards for the price of one sounds great, right? Because of that, I predict, if anything, TyRam will regain some of the popularity that it lost during cities. When this time comes, I also think that Ninetales will not be played anymore in this deck. It just screams out 'Catcher bait', and it probably wouldn't stand more than 2 turns because of that. Typhlosion is also Catcher Bait for the EXs and Magnezone, and because of this, I don't think that TyRam will get higher than Tier 1.5 next season.
Also, Reshiphlosion, along with most decks, will gain some extra consistency in Next Destinies with the new 'Ball Engine' that will be coming out. It will also have gained some new allies - Reshiram-EX and believe it or not, Mewtwo-EX. Scroll Down to the 'Possible Techs' section to read more about these techs!
What is in TyRam?
Typhlosion Prime
Typhlosion fuels our Reshiram with damage for its Outrage attack and energies for its Blue Flare attack. Cards such as Junk Arm and Sage's Training can help get the energies in the discard pile early in the game. Also, Flare Destroy can be an excellent move. Using this move, you can discard lots of energies on your opponent's Pokemon that might give you problems such as DCE and Rescue energy.
Reshiram
Reshiram is the main attacker in here. It works with Typhlosion prime to hit a continuous 120 damage every turn with its Blue Flare attack. Its Outrage attack is also great because when used with Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner, you can get some cheap KOs on basic Pokemon that your opponent hasn't yet evolved. In other words, Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner is like a PlusPower to Reshiram's Outrage attack. Another thing that Reshiram can take advantage of is Eviolite. While the majority of lists don't run Eviolite, Eviolite + Potion could be the tech combo to save your game. Scroll down to the "Possible Techs" section to see why.
Cleffa
While Cleffa hasn't been near as popular in decks lately for drawpower, it still has its place in Reshiphlosion, and also works excellently as a staller when you're trying to set up.
Pokemon Collector
Pokemon Collector is a staple in every deck. It is great on your first turn to get what you want to start setting up on your benchd.
Sage's Training
Early game, Sage's Training can be used to discard fire energies to Afterburn to Reshiram with Typhlosion. Also, Sage's Training works great in general to get what you want, and discard what you don't.
Professor Juniper
This card is great. It works somewhat like Sage's Training in the aspect that you discard things in your hand when you don't have a use for them. Unlike other cards for consistency such as Professor Oak's New Theory or N, Professor Juniper guarentees that you're not going to get the junk back that you tried to get rid of by shuffling it into your deck.
PlusPower
PlusPower is a great card in this format that wasn't as good in previous formats. 130 is the magical number in this format, which means that a lot of cards have 130 HP. Reshiram's Blue Flare attach does 120 damage, and with a PlusPower it can kill things such as a Chandelure or a Zekrom, Kyurem, or opposing Reshiram without an Eviolite attached.
N
This card is an excellent card for disruption and preventing you from decking out. If your opponent it winning a match and you play this card when they have only a few prize cards left, this card can turn the game around.
Pokemon Catcher
This card is the one card that the majority of Pokemon players are scared of. You can easily Catcher up any cards that your opponent is trying to set up, and knock them out easily. This card is the reason that you can win matches that you would normally lose. In the mirror match, you can catcher up the Typhlosions and kill them. Against ZPST, you can Catcher up the Zekroms that don't have an Eviolite on them yet, play PlusPower, and get a nice K.O. Also, it may not be a good idea to Catcher up, say, a Pachirisu or Shaymin against ZPST or a Cleffa. This is because you want to K.O. your largest threats with Pokemon Catcher, and not something that they are not going to attack with. Remember - play to win, not draw prize cards.
Junk Arm
This card rocks. It can be used to get an emergency Catcher or PlusPower or whatever you have in your discard pile that you could use at that moment. Also, with the new ruling on PlusPower, it goes straight to your discard pile. This is good because you could play a PlusPower, then Junk Arm for the same PlusPower. That would make your Blue Flare attack do 140 damage - enough to knock out a Magnezone Prime.
Pokemon Communication
A staple in the majority of competitive decks, Pokemon Communication can get you the Pokemon you want from your deck. One great use for this is to exchange something you don't need from your hand to get a Typhlosion, and Rare Candy it onto the field.
Rare Candy
Chances are, with this card, you'll have a Typhlosion or two out on the field Turn 2. This card is played in all decks with Stage 2 cards. This deck, along with all other decks with Stage 2 Cards, would most likely not be functional without this card. Sadly, this card has gotten much worse this format because of the new errata.
The Skeleton List:
4-2-4 Typhlosion Prime
4 Reshiram BW
1 Cleffa
4 Pokemon Collector
4 Sage's Training
3 Professor Juniper
2 PlusPower
2 N
2 Pokemon Catcher
4 Junk Arm
3 Pokemon Communication
4 Rare Candy
2 Rescue Energy
10 Fire Energy
This leaves 5 open spots for techs and additional cards. Check below to see what you can add!
Possible Techs:
Eviolite + Potion
These techs are for mirror match ups and ZPST. After Afterburning a few times, use Potion to bring yourself to max HP, and then attach an Eviolite. This way, you can 2-shot them, but they can't do it to you.
Reshiram-EX
This could be a nice tech in this deck. It can 2HKO every card in the game, and can abuse Eviolite for a massive 200 HP. The problem I see, though, is that this card has such a terrible retreat cost. 3 Retreat will make a non-set up Reshiram-EX complete Catcher bait. Luckily, we have Afterburner, though, so it's pretty much about playing Reshiram-EX down at the right time. Lately, people have been hyping this card with the ability Emboar from the Black and White expansion. Remember when I said that Emboar was Catcher bait earlier in this article? That's the reason why I prefer to play this card with Typhlosion Prime over Emboar.
Mewtwo-EX
Mewtwo-EX is a great card. Lots of people have been hyping this card as its own deck, but personally, I think it will only work as a backup attacker and a tech for other Mewtwos you encounter. Actually, people have been hyping Mewtwo + Typhlosion Prime as its own deck, but I think that you should run only one copy of Mewtwo if you choose to play it. Also, when you play Mewtwo-EX or any other EX for that matter, you have to make sure to play them down at the exact moment so they don't get Catchered up.
Ninetales
Ninetales is played in a LOT of Reshiphlosion builds for drawpower. You can discard one energy from your hand to draw 3 cards, and then Afterburner it to one of your Pokemon. From my experience with this addition, it has slowed down my deck when it was supposed to speed it up. 1-1 or 2-2 lines of Ninetales are the lines that most people run.
1-1-1 or 1-0-1 Kingdra Prime Line
People really like playing this card in their TyRam builds. It acts as a free PlusPower on any of your opponent's Pokemon. I actually like this tech, and has won me quite a few games against ZPST and mirror matches.
Tournament-winning Deck Lists:
Esa Juntunen(Owner of The Deck Out)'s List:
4-3-4 Typhlosion Prime
4x Reshiram
1x Cleffa
4x Pokémon Collector
4x Professor Juniper
3x Sage’s Training
2x N
2x Pokegear 3.0.
3x Pokémon Communication
4x Junk Arm
4x Rare Candy
3x Pokémon Catcher
1x Super Rod
2x PlusPower
2x Rescue Energy
10x Fire Energy
Gabe Cherniske(My)'s List (Won myself 2 cities, and top cut another one):
4-2-4 Typhlosion Prime
4x Reshiram
1x Cleffa
2x Eviolite
2x Potion
4x Pokemon Collector
4x Sage's Training
3x Professor Juniper
2x PlusPower
2x N
3x Pokemon Catcher
4x Junk Arm
3x Pokemon Communication
4x Rare Candy
2x Rescue Energy
10x Fire Energy
Credits and Conclusion
Hope you guys have learned a ton about TyRam! I also hope you guys like the lists I gave, and understand better how Reshiphlosion works. Thanks to the following for helping this article be awesome:
-Me for writing this, playtesting, and giving most of the info. :3
-Mr.Tea for giving some suggestions.
-Afro-G for giving some suggestions.
-Pokebeach.com for being awesome like usual.
-The Deck Out for letting me use Esa's TyRam list.
-The Pokebeach.com forum members for helping me playtest.
