Standard Who Let The Dogs Out? (M Manectric EX / Raikou)

[Elleh-oot]

Pokemon: 8

• 2 Manectric EX
• 2 M Manectric EX
• 3 Raikou (XY BREAKthrough)
• 1 Magnezone EX

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 40

• 2 VS Seeker
• 2 Float Stone
• 1 Energy Retrieval
• 1 Lucky Helmet
• 1 Escape Rope
• 2 Wide Lens
• 2 Manectric Spirit Link
• 4 Ultra Ball
• 1 Energy Recycler
• 2 Roller Skates
• 2 Professor's Letter

• 1 Pokemon Fan Club
• 4 Professor Sycamore
• 3 Shauna
• 2 Professor Birch's Observations
• 2 Skyla
• 2 Lysandre
• 1 AZ
• 1 Hex Maniac

• 4 Rough Seas

Energy: 20

• 12 Lightning Energy
• 2 Flash Energy

Strategy:

The Strategy's pretty simple but it can sometimes take a while to get it into motion. Get a Manectric EX up as soon as possible, evolving into a M Manectric EX after using Skyla or another supporter to find and attach a Spirit Link. While Dealing damage with Turbo Bolt ( if necessary using Hex Maniac to cut through those pesky Beautiflies, Pyroars or Giratinas in the meantime ) while attaching energy from the discard (Thanks to Sycamore, Ultra ball etc) to the Raikou, making it 20 damage more powerful each energy is attached. The Magnezone isn't integral, just for a bit of fun to pick off any pokemon that happen to escape onto the bench - maybe even taking out shaymins when paired up with a hard charm?

Any suggestions are welcome, as it's early days - but I really think this has plenty of potential!

 

[TokenDuelist]

Maybe it should be named "It's Raining Cats and Dogs"? <:'3c
as for the deck...


I would probably go:
-1 Lucky Helmet
-1 Magnezone EX
-2 Wide Lens
-2 Roller Skates

+1 Manectric EX
+3 Acro Bike
+1 Shauna
+1 VS Seeker

Magnezone is a neat idea, but it definitely won't be knocking out any Shaymin or Electric-Weak EX Pokemon, even with Wide Lens.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

Given that you are running only 6 Basic Pokémon, chances are you will mulligan quite a bit and potentially providing your opponent with quite a few extra cards at the beginning of the game. So, I'd suggest incorporating a few Judges to reduce his/her hand.

 

[bidou]

My opinion is that you NEED to attack with M-Manectric EX on turn 2.
So running 4 Manectric EX and 3 M-Manectric EX seems to be essential for a nice set up.

Ultra Ball works nice with this cat, you need a good Pokemon to search with it. Hoopa EX can be that good, allowing you to search Shaymin EX/Lugia EX (great attacker with M-Manectric EX on board)/Manectric EX (to swap for free with the first one once M-Evolved while the damaged one is healed by Rough Sea).

Perhaps you would have enough drawing cards to limit your Rough Seas to only 2 ?

Here is my list :

Pokémons : 15 (12 basics)

4 Manectric EX
3 M-Manectric EX
3 Raikou
2 Lugia EX
1 Hoopa EX
2 Shaymin EX

Trainers - Supporters - Stadiums : 34

4 Pr. Sycamore
4 Pr. Birch's Observations
2 Shauna
3 Lysandre
4 Acro Bike
3 VS Seeker
4 Ultra Ball
3 Battle Compressor
3 Manectric Spirit Link
2 Rough Seas
2 Switch

Energy : 11

11 Lightning energy

First step : you do anything to attack on turn 2 with M-Manectric EX. Of course, that means playing Manectric EX on turn 1, eventually thanks to Ultra Ball/Hoopa EX or all the drawing Supporters.
If you had to choose an other active Pokémon in the beginning of the game, Switch is here to fix that

Second step : Fill your discard with some energies (Ultra Ball, Battle Compressor, Acro bike and Sycamore are your friends), and attach them to Lugia EX or Raikou with M-Manectric's attack.

Third step : choose your best attacker (M-Manectric EX, Raikou, Lugia EX) to kill your opponent's Pokémons. Different options can be considered : Lugia EX is perfect against Aegislash EX (it will win the race to the OHKO), Raikou is a wall in addition to his strike force (with Rough Sea and his power, up to 50 damages are healed/prevented each turn). M-Manectric EX himself is a very good attacker, but will quickly be quite "weak" once Lugia EX or Raikou are highly energized.

11 Energies seems to be enough since you only need 2 to allow your M-Manectric EX to attack. Once it is done, your benched Pokémons will be quickly energized thanks to the mega-cat.

I have an interrogation about Shauna. Tierno can be a very good option to replace her, I think it is a very under-rated Supporter. Drawing 3 cards without having to throw your hand away can be very helpful in many situations.

Shauna/Tierno and Pr. Birch's Observations are only here to draw cards. None of these two Supporters have any synergy with our goal : hit quick and strong with the mega-cat, and recycle our discarded energies on our benched Pokémons for even stronger attacks. Maybe there's something better to play than them, but I don't see...

 

[bidou]

What is the best drawing engine for this deck ?

Playing 4 Prof. Sycamore seems to be evident since his synergy with M-Manectric EX is obvious.
1 Shaymin EX (or 2 if you are afraid of seeing it under the prizes) is evident too.

But then, what ?
Is it worth playing 3 or 4 Pr. Birch's Observations whereas it doesn't throw any energy in the discard ?
The same goes for Shauna and Tierno. They take a lot of slots in the deck, perhaps some other Trainers could be much more powerfull instead : Head Ringer (which is just great with Manectric EX and against any Mega evolution, including mirror), Hex Maniac (which can save a lot of situations), Mega Turbo (to ensure some super fast starts)...

I am convinced that this deck is better when played aggressively, so each slot is very important.
Raikou and Lugia EX (helped by Lysandre) can win a lot of races to the OHKO, and face to practically any situation