Standard Water Gate (Lapras GX / Tapu Fini GX /Manaphy EX / Articuno)

[Dark Espeon]

WATER GATE

Pokémon (12):

• 1 Tapu Fini GX (beatdown)
• 4 Lapras GX (beatdown)
• 1 Manaphy Ex (retreat)
• 2 Articuno (beatdown)
  
• 2 Remoraid (evolve)
  
• 2 Octillery (draw)

Trainer (36):

• 4 Professor Sycamore (draw)
• 1 Professor Kukui (draw)
• 1 Hex Maniac (control)
  
• 2 Lysandre (control)
• 1 Lillie (draw)
  
• 2 N (draw)
• 3 Choice Band (beatdown)
• 4 Aqua Patch (accelerate)
• 4 Max Elixir (accelerate)
• 1 Field Blower (control)
• 1 Super Rod (retrieval)
• 4 Vs Seeker (retrieval)
• 4 Ultra Ball (search)
• 4 Brooklet Hill (search)

Energy (12):

• 12 Water Energy

STRATEGY:

Start with either Lapras GX or Tapu Fini GX. Use Dive Ball and the stadium to search for Manaphy EX and another Lapras GX. Accelerate to the bench with Max Elixir and Aqua Patch. Switch between two Lapras GX on a constant basis and hit their bench with Tapu Fini GX when needed. Articuno is used as a secondary attacker to trade more favorable with other fast deck.

SPOILER:

Tapu Fini GX
Basic Water Pokémon
HP: 170
[C] Aqua Ring: 20
You may switch this Pokémon with one of your benched Pokémon.
[W][W][C] Hydro Shoot:
Discard 2 [W] energy attached to this Pokémon and do 120 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for benched Pokémon.)
[W] Tapu Storm GX:
Shuffle your opponent’s active Pokémon and all cards attached to it into your opponent’s deck. If your opponent has no benched Pokémon, this attack fails.
Retreat Cost: C
Weakness: none

 

[President Pokemon]

I like the idea about having 2 Lapras GX's so you can use Blizzard Burn each turn.

 

[Seth Vilo]

Looking it over, you've convinced me Fini might be worthwhile to use actually! My only thought is a small one. I'd drop the Water energy to 11 and add one more Lysandre. I feel like 1 isn't reliable enough to pull something up you need to murder right NOW with Lapras. You could also swap the Ninja Boy for a Pokemon Ranger. Ranger is flipping awesome for Lapras because it also removes the effect of "this Pokemon cannot attack next turn" from it, so if something goes awry and you either can't switch to the other Lapras (Garbodor, A-Muk, Silent Lab, or Hex Maniac), or don't have it charged up yet (not out, Hammers, dead-draw with no energies), you can use Blizzard Burn twice in a row. Outside of that, though, the concept looks really solid, especially with the fancy new Aqua Patch!

EDIT: Also Regice. Always good in Water decks since many top decks still use heavy EX-counts. Maybe doing 1 of each of Articuno, Regice, and Glaceon would be good for that.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi President Pokémon,

Thanks for the comment.

Hi Seth Vilo,

Thanks for the review. Revised the deck a little with the new cards that have been revealed and traded Ninja Boy for Pokémon Rager. Would still like a second Lysandre but have no idea on how to fit it in withoutreducing the energy count. Any idea?

 

[Lostdad]

I think for this particular build, I would swap the ultra balls for dive balls although they will be rolling out in September. Maybe consider Nest balls instead? The only thing on your list that they can't get is the Octillary.

I am interested to know what you would replace the VS Seeker and Lysandre with when they rotate out? Maybe Random receiver and pokemon catcher? With VS Seeker rolling out of format I've been looking at trying to minimize dumping cards with Sycamore, relying more on N and Shauna.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Lostdad,

Thanks for the review. Not sure on Dive Ball since you want to thin out the hand from time to time and draw with Octillery and discard basic Water Energy for Aqua Patch. Did not look into the rotation thus far since it has not been announced which sets will rotate out in standard.