Will Zekeels see a decrease in viability once the BW-on format is in play?

Do you see Zekeel's still having play in the BW-on format? (Please also explain why)

  • Yes

    Votes: 43 70.5%

  • No

    Votes: 18 29.5%
  • Total voters
    61
cool

cool

Hi.
Member
After playing a lot today on Playtcg, the first matches of competitive Pokémon card playing I've done since like DP Great Encounters. I noticed one thing, ZekEels shows up as much as G&G use to. It seems really strong in the current format, and everyone seems to know this. Nothing wrong with that just something I noticed.

Now with that being said, do you guys feel without the use of HGSS-on supporters/trainers, Smeargle, and so on, that we will see a small decline in the playability of this deck? Or with new cards coming out in the Dragon Exalted format or just any other variable you could see that would harm this deck in the upcoming season. Or do you think it's still gonna be the top deck to beat. Let me know your thoughts! ^_^
 
I think it will still be just as viable, but it will lose popularity. Garchomp Altaria and Hydreigon Darkrai are better int he BW-on format. It will still be played, but just won't be as good.
 
iisnumber12 said:
It will still be played, but just won't be as good.
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You don't say?

The question is how much it loses when the rotation hits. From what I can tell, ZekEels does not lose very much in comparison to other decks. I'm already considering it as an idea for a deck for BW-on if I can't think of a more innovative idea by then.

Oh sure, we might see a small decline in popularity, but that'll apply to most decks, really. Some just become no longer viable, but ZekEels isn't one of them.

In short: I think ZekEels is still going to be strong post-rotation.
 
It is still going to be good, but I think it will have a decent contender with Garchomp Altartia. It doesn't lose much it terms of resources, but it has new competitors which means it will still decline in popularity.
 
People will always play whatever is new, regardless of what is best. However, I just feel like Darkrai/Hyedreigon and Garchomp/Altaria outclass it. ZekEels will no doubt still be a very strong deck, though. It will just lose popularity since new cards are desirable and people will want to play with them.
 
When you mean Hyedreigon you mean the one with the ability right?

Also how do you guys think Rayquaza EX comes into play? I can see that being a very nice tech for the deck.
 
When you mean Hyedreigon you mean the one with the ability right?
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Yeah, Dark Trance.

Rayquaza EX could work. The problem as to why people haven't used it over Garchomp/Altaria, so I hear, is because it cannot keep up on the prize trade, usually. Garchomp/Altaria has an almost phenomenal speed and needs very little Energy (1 {F} at minimum) to get to work, plus, Gabite searches for any Dragon.

I believe Rayquaza will be a possible deck, but it'll just have a very bad matchup against Garchomp/Altaria unless some bad mistakes/epic disruption plays are made.
 
Building on what DNA is saying, Rayquaza loses 2 Prizes per KO against Garchomp/Altaria while only gaining 1 per KO. As far as I know, Garchomp Altaria doesn't run any EX's besides Mewtwo, if that. Plus you need to keep the stream going with Dynamotor only working on the bench.

As for ZekEel against Garchomp Altaria, I think the biggest issue is that Garchomp isn't OHKO-able unless you have a Doube PlusPower drop. Unless Zekrom has a Eviolite, after a Bolt Stike Garchomp OHKO's. Another bonus Garchomp has is built-in acceleration in the form of Gabite, so less deck space has to be dedicated to search cards.
 
I still think garchomp alteria is just to catcher weak. Alteria only has 70 hp, and gabite only has 80, sure theres large cloack, but in this format, 90 or 100 hp still isnt enough, and loosing one of those can seriously cripple the deck.
 
Spidy said:
I still think garchomp alteria is just to catcher weak. Alteria only has 70 hp, and gabite only has 80, sure theres large cloack, but in this format, 90 or 100 hp still isnt enough, and loosing one of those can seriously cripple the deck.
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Yeah but if they Catcher an Altaria you can get more and swarm them with Gabite, and if they Catcher a Gabite they're ignoring the greater threat which is Garchomp.
 
Cinema said:
Yeah but if they Catcher an Altaria you can get more and swarm them with Gabite, and if they Catcher a Gabite they're ignoring the greater threat which is Garchomp.
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it still takes 2 turns to replace it, unless they have a swablu in play already. also swablu cant be searched with gabite.

KOing gabite, is really only detrimental if its early, it doent help much if they are already set up. Taking out alteria is always going to hurt them though, cause if they dont have 2 out, garchomp starts missing alot of ohkos.
 
Look at this:

1st - Hydreigon + Darkrai EX
2nd - Garchomp + Altaria
3rd - Eelektrik + Zekrom + Mewtwo EX + Raikou EX
4th - Mewtwo EX + Terrakion EX + Bouffalant

Top 8
Empoleon + Terrakion + Mew EX
Gothitelle + Accelgor + Mew EX + Darkrai EX + Musharna
Ho-Oh EX + Tornadus EX
Eelektrik + Zekrom + Mewtwo EX

Top 16
Hydreigon + Darkrai EX
Eelektrik + Zekrom + Mewtwo EX + Raikou EX
Eelektrik + Zekrom + Mewtwo EX + Raikou EX + Tornadus EX
Darkrai EX + Mewtwo EX + Tornadus EX + Tornadus
Mewtwo EX + Terrakion
Garchomp + Altaria
Darkrai EX + Mewtwo EX + Bouffalant
Mewtwo EX + Terrakion EX + Terrakion + Sigilyph + Stunfisk
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That's 4 Zekrom/Eelektrik varients in 1st-16th place of the Japanese Worlds Qualifiers (which was played in a BW-on format) alone. There is no way this deck is dead, especially with more options than before the Dragon Sets including Rayquaza-EX. Also, in many minor Japanese tournaments, Zekrom/Eelektrik has won as well as made multiple Top Cuts.
 
ZekEels will still see play. Sure, it won't be nearly as fast, (nor as consistent), but the deck is still viable. The deck loses Dual Ball, Smeargle and PONT. (But so does every other deck.) That being said, I think ZekEels will still be popular. It's not as good as Garchomp/Altaria, but that doesn't mean it's a bad deck.
 
Serperior said:
ZekEels will still see play. Sure, it won't be nearly as fast, (nor as consistent), but the deck is still viable. The deck loses Dual Ball, Smeargle and PONT. (But so does every other deck.) That being said, I think ZekEels will still be popular. It's not as good as Garchomp/Altaria, but that doesn't mean it's a bad deck.
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It also loses Junk Arm, which will greatly hinder the deck's ability to get Lightning Energy in the discard ASAP for quick attacking. I think it'll have to rely on Thundurus and Ultra Ball for early game, since without them the earliest you can attack is T3 with Zekrom, or sooner with Mewtwo but you don't really want to do that.
 
I think the deck will change a little bit. More Zek/Eels will utilize Raikou+Max Potion for discarding Energy and additional "Catchers" so to speak (not really, but you get the idea). Other varients might include Rayquaza normal and possibly the EX, but I think normal Rayquaza might be a staple to compete with the new Dragons. Losing PONT, Junk Arm, and Dual Ball (and Smeargle) are especially bad because they are mega consistency cards, but the deck will just have to play more Bianca/Random Receiver, 4 Catcher (staple without Junk Arm), and more Ultra Ball/Level Ball to replace those. It will still be a strong play in the upcoming Format change.

dmaster out.
 
Yeah ZekEels is still viable in BW-On cause it has an advantage against Garchomp/Altaria with Raikou EX for taking out their benched Altaria and Garchomp is played solely to keep Rayquaza EX in check. Ultra Ball replaces both Junk Arm and Dual Ball in ZekEels while Bianca makes up for the loss of PONT.

Thundurus while good is played literally to open the game to get energy acceleration going by Turn 1 and getting Thundurus out mid to late game makes it a dead card pretty much, plus you're opening yourself up for a free prize anyway so it's not worth the risk. I don't see how Max Potion is good with Raikou EX when you Volt Bolt to discard the energies the same way anyway unless you're just preventing a 2 prize lead from your Opponent.

The only time you ever run Max Potion is with Darkrai EX either in Klinklang, Hydreigon/Darkrai (which is a better variant of the Klinklang strategy), and Darkrai/Tornadus. It used to be played with Donphan but it's rotating out anyway and good riddance, I never did like playing against Donphan cause it was too annoying with the Poke Body plus the {L} Resistance.
 
You obviously play Max Potion after you get rid of all the Energies if they can't OHKO you (which most things can't). It could have uses later in the match though on Mewtwo for instance if they try to 2HKO that (and discard Energy at the same time). Point is if you're playing a Raikou centric Zeel, there's really no reason to at least play one Max Potion (you'll probably want more with no Junk Arm) because there are so many uses in the deck.

dmaster out.
 
Max Potion is going to be very strong in ZekEels with Raikou or even some of the other attackers in a pinch. For that reason I think Garchomp/Altaria will need to play a Terrakion or two, and it doesn't really hurt consistency since Garchomp's attack uses Fighting Energy anyway. It's always great when you can use the same energy type to hit for multiple weaknesses.
 
Zekeels will only slightly decrease in play. As previously said, the Darkrai/Hydreigon and Garchomp/Altaria decks are slightly better. Terrakion can help deal with D/H and Max Potions and Zekrom Ex can run through G/A. It will still be Tier 1 though.
 
Will ZekEels still see play? Yes, it is too good of a deck not to, though I have a feeling Garchomp/Altaria and other new decks will overshadow it, making it see less play than it should.

Will ZekEels change? Yes, because of the rotation, I belive that the deck's strategy will be very different, mainly because of the loss of Junk Arm and Sage's Training. It will have to rely on Max Potion, Raikou EX's Volt Bolt and maybe Retreating + Switch.
 
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