So, at a recent Cities, I played a Sableye/Weavile Lock deck using Houndoom UD (not Prime) as the main attacker. When I got the lock on, the deck cruised to victory. When I didn't, the lack of firepower really showed. In addition, Gyarados uses enough Collector, VS Seeker, Pokemon Rescue, Rescue Energy, etc. to avoid the lock. I have since edited the decklist a few times, but it still needs help:
Pokemon:
2-2-2 Tyranitar Prime (Mountain Eater-Boost Gas)
2-2 Weavile UD
3 Sableye SF
1-1 Slowking HS (Slowpoke UD)
1-1 Honchkrow SV (Murkrow UD Astonish)
1-1 Giratina Lv.X (Let Loose)
2 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Unown Q MD
Pokemon: 23 (14 Basic, 6 Stage 1, 2 Stage 2, 1 Lv. X)
T/S/S:
4 Cyrus's Initiative
1 Team Rocket's Trickery
1 Judge
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Bebe's Search
2 Pokemon Communication
4 Super Scoop Up
2 Warp Point
2 Broken Time Space
1 Luxury Ball
2 Expert Belt
T/S/S: 24 (11 Supporter, 9 Trainer, 2 Stadium, 2 Tool)
Energy:
4 Special Dark Energy
1 Dark Energy
1 Psychic Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy
Energy: 13 (2 Basic, 11 Special)
The Lock: Sableye with Cyrus's Initiative can get them off their game very quickly. Weavile hits another card (or more with the help of Super Scoop Up). Giratina can help lock them a bit quicker. Slowking makes sure they can't draw out of it. Giratina Lv.X will make partial locks and late full locks more devastating. If the full lock gets on (no cards in hand, nothing overly useful on the board, Slowking on my side), they usually scoop, and nobody has won after having the full lock put on.
The Finish: When the lock doesn't get on, the original version of this deck couldn't do more than 80 or so damage (Houndoom + SDE + Expert Belt), which wasn't nearly enough against most decks, and once Houndoom went down (quick due to his average HP), things looked even worse. Dark Roar didn't ever help (either the lock was on, in which case the discard didn't matter, or the lock wasn't, and the discard didn't help), so I decided to remove him completely. I put in the Tyranitar Prime line to deal much stronger damage (his last attack OHKOs even SP Lv.X, and with a SDE, Gyarados). I put in the Giratina Lv.X and Honchkrow SV to greatly improve the matchup against Gyarados. Honchkrow SV can put Magikarp on to the bench, and Giratina takes them out of the game completely. It also gets around Pokemon Rescue and Rescue Energy (I think, unsure of this ruling, could somebody explain how this would work?). Both T-Tar Prime and Giratina X can also spread, should the occasion call for it.
Other stuff I've considered: I played Honchkrow UD (Blindside) instead of Honchkrow SV in the original build, hoping to get fat Pokemon stuck up front while I take out the bench, but it only worked if I got the lock on, in which case it didn't really matter what was up front. I played a 1-of Seeker, but I couldn't play it more often than not due to opposing Uxies. I played an Umbreon UD 1-1 line, but its damage output was too low to make a difference, and it's only really good against VileGar, which this deck already has a good matchup against thanks to type matchup. I played a Jirachi, but it was useless on turn 1, and never better than Sableye. I don't have Uxie X and am not willing to spend to get one.
Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions?
Pokemon:
2-2-2 Tyranitar Prime (Mountain Eater-Boost Gas)
2-2 Weavile UD
3 Sableye SF
1-1 Slowking HS (Slowpoke UD)
1-1 Honchkrow SV (Murkrow UD Astonish)
1-1 Giratina Lv.X (Let Loose)
2 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Unown Q MD
Pokemon: 23 (14 Basic, 6 Stage 1, 2 Stage 2, 1 Lv. X)
T/S/S:
4 Cyrus's Initiative
1 Team Rocket's Trickery
1 Judge
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Bebe's Search
2 Pokemon Communication
4 Super Scoop Up
2 Warp Point
2 Broken Time Space
1 Luxury Ball
2 Expert Belt
T/S/S: 24 (11 Supporter, 9 Trainer, 2 Stadium, 2 Tool)
Energy:
4 Special Dark Energy
1 Dark Energy
1 Psychic Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy
Energy: 13 (2 Basic, 11 Special)
The Lock: Sableye with Cyrus's Initiative can get them off their game very quickly. Weavile hits another card (or more with the help of Super Scoop Up). Giratina can help lock them a bit quicker. Slowking makes sure they can't draw out of it. Giratina Lv.X will make partial locks and late full locks more devastating. If the full lock gets on (no cards in hand, nothing overly useful on the board, Slowking on my side), they usually scoop, and nobody has won after having the full lock put on.
The Finish: When the lock doesn't get on, the original version of this deck couldn't do more than 80 or so damage (Houndoom + SDE + Expert Belt), which wasn't nearly enough against most decks, and once Houndoom went down (quick due to his average HP), things looked even worse. Dark Roar didn't ever help (either the lock was on, in which case the discard didn't matter, or the lock wasn't, and the discard didn't help), so I decided to remove him completely. I put in the Tyranitar Prime line to deal much stronger damage (his last attack OHKOs even SP Lv.X, and with a SDE, Gyarados). I put in the Giratina Lv.X and Honchkrow SV to greatly improve the matchup against Gyarados. Honchkrow SV can put Magikarp on to the bench, and Giratina takes them out of the game completely. It also gets around Pokemon Rescue and Rescue Energy (I think, unsure of this ruling, could somebody explain how this would work?). Both T-Tar Prime and Giratina X can also spread, should the occasion call for it.
Other stuff I've considered: I played Honchkrow UD (Blindside) instead of Honchkrow SV in the original build, hoping to get fat Pokemon stuck up front while I take out the bench, but it only worked if I got the lock on, in which case it didn't really matter what was up front. I played a 1-of Seeker, but I couldn't play it more often than not due to opposing Uxies. I played an Umbreon UD 1-1 line, but its damage output was too low to make a difference, and it's only really good against VileGar, which this deck already has a good matchup against thanks to type matchup. I played a Jirachi, but it was useless on turn 1, and never better than Sableye. I don't have Uxie X and am not willing to spend to get one.
Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions?