Standard XY-On: Palkia / Regice / Kyurem

[WastedSkyPirate]

Hello all,

I was inspired to put a list together for Palkia-EX after seeing Keith Fitch's result at Mississippi State Championships, where he placed 5th. His finish was, in my eyes, the standout result of the weekend considering the neglect that Palkia has faced since the release of BREAKpoint.

I have not seen Keith's list but this is my take on the deck.

Version 1.0

Pokemon (11)

• 2-2 Octillery
• 2 Palkia-EX
• 2 Regice
• 1 Kyurem-EX
• 1 Manaphy-EX
• 1 Articuno

Trainers (37)

• 4 Professor Sycamore
• 2 Professor Birch's Observations
• 2 Lysandre
• 1 Pokemon Centre Lady
• 1 Judge
• 1 Hex Maniac

• 4 VS Seeker
• 4 Dive Ball
• 4 Trainers' Mail
• 4 Max Elixir
• 4 Fighting Fury Belt
• 1 Energy Switch
• 1 Startling Megaphone
• 1 Super Rod

• 3 Rough Seas

Energy (12)

• 12 Water Energy

Strategy

The deck's strategy is fairly straightforward, at least for the early game, where you want to use Palkia-EX's Aqua Turbo as soon as possible to power up a secondary attacker. Aqua Turbo is a fantastic setup attack that hits for 40 damage and attaches 2 basic Water Energy from the deck to one of your benched Pokemon. By itself, this attack brings cards into play that are otherwise difficult to setup.

The strategy for the mid to late game changes depending on your opponent. It is essential to power up the correct secondary attacker(s) to give you an advantage; the most obvious example being Regice versus EX decks - Resistance Blizzard still provides protection against a large chunk of the metagame. In situations where you find yourself against non-EX decks, Articuno, Kyurem and Palkia are useful to varying degrees. Palkia and Kyurem are both surprisingly good at spreading damage across your opponent's field - the latter being of particular use against Night March where, with a Fighting Fury Belt, Kyurem can survive a Night March and pull off back-to-back Glaciates; this is usually enough to clean up your opponent's Joltik and Pumpkaboo.

Articuno is a great trump card for the late game that loves to come in after a few Glaciates or Pearl Hurricanes and sweep up KOs. Yes, Tri-Edge is largely luck based, but if the odds are in your favour, Articuno can snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat thanks to Delta Plus.

The Trainer selection is where I see real room for flexibility. You'll see I've opted for a more durable build, making use of Fighting Fury Belts, Pokemon Centre Lady and Rough Seas, however I'm sure these could be cut for a different focus.

As ever, let me know your thoughts and suggestions. It's always good to get a fresh perspective!

 

[camohunter19]

Do you find yourself not starting Palkia often as you only play two?

 

[WastedSkyPirate]

Do you find yourself not starting Palkia often as you only play two?

Not as much as you might think. As long as Manaphy isn't prized, it's not too hard to get a Palkia into the active on your first turn. Max Elixir helps to ensure you don't fall behind on your attachments too.

However, point taken, I'll test the list with 3.

 

[TheSceptileMaster]

I think you should cut a Sycamore since you need those energy in deck and add another Birch

 

[Lanstar]

Cool Deck! I've been running something similar to great effect, though my list has a 3-3 Slowking Line and runs more around Kyurem-EX as the partner of choice. Let me give you a little advice for your list:

-Add 1 Delinquent. One issue with Rough Seas is that opponents can also use it to heal their own Pokemon, so teching one of them can help remove it, as well as do some nice disrupting, too.
-Cassius is wonderful to use in a deck like this. It not only spares you from a knockout, but it also shuffles the energy back into your deck to reuse with Max Elixir.

Amazed that something like this got a nice tournamant finish...

 

[WastedSkyPirate]

@camohunter19 @TheSceptileMaster @Lanstar

Thank you guys - good observations.

I completely agree with the Rough Seas / Glaciate paradox, whereby you end up giving your opponent the chance to heal. At this stage, however, I'm undecided as to whether the answer lies with Delinquent or just a complete overhaul of the Stadium and Supporter line. I'm leaning towards the latter but then the first question is "which Stadium to run?".

 

[camohunter19]

@camohunter19 @TheSceptileMaster @Lanstar

Thank you guys - good observations.

I completely agree with the Rough Seas / Glaciate paradox, whereby you end up giving your opponent the chance to heal. At this stage, however, I'm undecided as to whether the answer lies with Delinquent or just a complete overhaul of the Stadium and Supporter line. I'm leaning towards the latter but then the first question is "which Stadium to run?".

You could try Team Aqua's Secret Base. It sounds weird but you don't have to worry about retreat cost because of Manaphy, and other stadiums don't give you any benefit. It makes a good Lysandre play costly for an opponent.

 

[Yog]

You could try Team Aqua's Secret Base. It sounds weird but you don't have to worry about retreat cost because of Manaphy, and other stadiums don't give you any benefit. It makes a good Lysandre play costly for an opponent.

I do this. A really good call and plays havoc with bats decks, greninja, raichu, garchomp and many more. You'd be surprised at the difference a sudden retreat cost makes to their strategies.

I've been toying with Palkia myself the past few days. He is definitely under-appreciated, but I'm not sure if he can be fully competitive. I've been working a straight 4 count, with Octillery 2-2 for draw, Manaphy for the retreat and occasional healing, and one-ofs of Regice & Articuno for situational stuff. But around those bare bones, an Archie's Empoleon build to get Palkia's punch up to a better level (or Regice, or Articuno). And now that 30 to the bench from a Pearl Hurricane makes a lot more sense. With a Belt and one Empoleon, that's 150 on the active and 30 on the bench which is a much better number and chaining knock-outs over and over on most things.



As for your specific build here, up the Palkia count for sure. Three or even four. Because not only do you want to ensure you are starting with him to do the acceleration, you also want a second one to be being charged asap. Godhand start is two Palkia, one Manaphy, two successful elixirs to charge the bench guy and one more energy to retreat whatever is in main. Then switch in and just roll over the game.

Town Map always seems like such a crutch card but running just one Articuno (for NM prize trade?), you might need to know where it is in a hurry if a dive ball hasn't revealed it earlier. I run only one, plus just the one Regice too. Don't forget Splash Energy can make up for low counts here. Manaphy however, if quite critical to the whole deck and potentially needs a back-up copy. Because if you get stuck with that fat retreat cost in active and no switches or other way to switch it for something charged up on the bench.. and if Manaphy is prized you will.

 

[WastedSkyPirate]

Thank you for the suggestions guys.

What I like about this deck is that it is versatile! As our discussion has highlighted, there are a few ways to play this deck;

• Max Elixir
• Spread Damage
• Healing
• Regice
• Archie's Empoleon

My initial list started with a Max Elixir and Regice focus, with spread damage and healing as afterthoughts. I generally don't like splitting the strategy into too many branches so I'll have a tinker and let you know when it's updated.

 

[bradon]

This seems like a deck where Revive would be useful. Since all of your Pokémon are Basic and you run a lot of one of tech pokemon.

Then again, Super Rod + Dive Ball would kind of fulfill the same duty with more flexibility.