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Standard XY-On: Serperior / Ariados

WastedSkyPirate

WastedSkyPirate

...
Member
Hello all,

Here is a simple and budget friendly deck that could be fun and functional once Fates Collide is released. The deck focuses on one of the, so far, overlooked cards of the set - Serperior.

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Version 4.0

Pokemon (17)
  • 4-4-3 Serperior
  • 2-2 Ariados
  • 2 Shaymin-EX
Trainers (36)
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 N
  • 1 Lysandre
  • 1 AZ
  • 1 Skyla
  • 1 Hex Maniac
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 3 Super Scoop Up
  • 3 Muscle Band
  • 2 Level Ball
  • 1 Super Rod
  • 4 Forest of Giant Plants
Energy (7)
  • 7 Grass Energy

Strategy

The aim of the deck is simple: keep setting up your Serperiors, paralyzing your opponent's active Pokemon and hitting hard and fast with Slashing Strike. Alone, this Pokemon's evolutionary line has the potential to hit 80 damage and paralyze your opponent's active Pokemon in 1 turn! That's something I want to try!

Despite being a Stage 2 Pokemon, Serperior has some good things going for it; first of all it's a Grass type and can make use of Forest of Giant Plants - arguably the most broken Stadium in the format. Secondly, it has two fairly decent, low-cost attacks - Slashing Strike's 80 damage for [G] is insanely good bang for your buck - and, thirdly, its Stage 1, Servine, has a decent ability in Snake Bind - giving you the chance to paralyze your opponent's active Pokemon when you play Servine from your hand to evolve Snivy.

Unfortunately, a Muscle Banded Slashing Strike hits for 100 and doesn't score some crucial KO's; the main one being Shaymin-EX! This is where Ariados provides invaluable support, not only does it add the extra 10 damage to knock out Shaymin-EX but, if your opponent doesn't switch (perhaps due to paralysis), Serperior with a Muscle Band can follow up with Coil, reaching the magic 180 damage in the process;

80 (Slashing Strike) + 20 (Muscle Band) + 10 (Poison) + 10 (Poison) + 40 (Coil) + 20 (Muscle Band) = 180

The Trainers are fairly standard, focused on consistency and damage. The inclusion of Super Scoop Up and AZ let's you recycle Servine's Snake Bind when you have a Forest of Giant Plants in play, healing Serperior in the process and letting you use Slashing Strike in consecutive turns. AZ and Super Scoop Up are also handy for getting Ariados/Shaymin-EX out of your active slot without having to use up your energy for the turn.

In the current metagame, where Night March and item lock are dominant, I don't see this deck being anywhere near top tier. However, it might be fun to try out at a League Challenge or two. With the release of Fates Collide, I expect to see quite a few Zygarde-EX/Regirock-EX which just so happen to have a weakness to Grass! So, in the short term, Serperior might find a little niche... who knows?

Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions - I'd be glad to hear them.


Changelog

Pokemon (17)
  • 4-4-4 Serperior
  • 2-2 Ariados
  • 1 Shaymin-EX
Trainers (37)
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 N
  • 1 Lysandre
  • 1 AZ
  • 1 Giovanni's Scheme
  • 1 Hex Maniac
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 3 Super Scoop Up
  • 3 Muscle Band
  • 2 Level Ball
  • 1 Float Stone
  • 1 Super Rod
  • 4 Forest of Giant Plants
Energy (6)
  • 6 Grass Energy

-2 Level Ball
-1 Float Stone
-1 Super Rod

+2 Battle Compressor
+2 Revitaliser

Pokemon (17)
  • 4-4-4 Serperior
  • 2-2 Ariados
  • 1 Shaymin-EX
Trainers (37)
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 N
  • 1 Lysandre
  • 1 AZ
  • 1 Giovanni's Scheme
  • 1 Hex Maniac
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 3 Super Scoop Up
  • 3 Muscle Band
  • 2 Battle Compressor
  • 2 Revitaliser
  • 4 Forest of Giant Plants
Energy (6)
  • 6 Grass Energy

-1 Revitaliser

+1 Super Rod

Pokemon (17)
  • 4-4-4 Serperior
  • 2-2 Ariados
  • 1 Shaymin-EX
Trainers (37)
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 N
  • 1 Lysandre
  • 1 AZ
  • 1 Giovanni's Scheme
  • 1 Hex Maniac
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 3 Super Scoop Up
  • 3 Muscle Band
  • 2 Battle Compressor
  • 1 Revitaliser
  • 1 Super Rod
  • 4 Forest of Giant Plants
Energy (6)
  • 6 Grass Energy

-1 Serperior
-1 Giovanni's Scheme
-2 Battle Compressor
-1 Revitaliser

+1 Shaymin-EX
+1 Skyla
+2 Level Ball
+1 Grass Energy
 
Last edited:
Hi WastedSkyPirate,

Nice deck. have you considered to combine Battle Compressor and Revitalizer to make the deck faster? You could switch Level Ball for Revitalizer and loose Float Stone and Super Rod for two Battle Compressor. Would also turn one of the three N into a Giovanni's Scheme. Made a similar deck and while it is not tier one or two it works better than one would assume from an evolution deck.
 
Dark Espeon said:
Hi WastedSkyPirate,

Nice deck. have you considered to combine Battle Compressor and Revitalizer to make the deck faster? You could switch Level Ball for Revitalizer and loose Float Stone and Super Rod for two Battle Compressor. Would also turn one of the three N into a Giovanni's Scheme. Made a similar deck and while it is not tier one or two it works better than one would assume from an evolution deck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions mate. I really like the idea of Battle Compressor and Revitaliser.

Not too sure on a second Giovanni's Scheme though - my gut feeling is that 2 will be overkill. I'll definitely test it though.
 
Pokemon (16)
  • 4-4-4 Serperior
  • 2-2 Octillery
Trainers (37)
  • 4 Professor Sycamore
  • 3 N
  • 1 Lysandre
  • 1 AZ
  • 1 Giovanni's Scheme
  • 1 Hex Maniac

  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 4 Trainers' Mail
  • 4 Super Scoop Up
  • 3 Muscle Band
  • 1 Level Ball
  • 1 Float Stone
  • 2 Super Rod

  • 3 Forest of Giant Plants
Energy (6)
  • 7 Grass Energy




This is my list for Serperior. Feel free to deck net it. I feel like more Muscle band and maybe another Level ball would be good.

Thanks ~ Gengar
 
Dark Espeon said:
Hi WastedSkyPirate,

Nice deck. have you considered to combine Battle Compressor and Revitalizer to make the deck faster? You could switch Level Ball for Revitalizer and loose Float Stone and Super Rod for two Battle Compressor. Would also turn one of the three N into a Giovanni's Scheme. Made a similar deck and while it is not tier one or two it works better than one would assume from an evolution deck.
Click to expand...

I am just looking at the deck again in the context of this comment. The glaring omission from the deck now is Super Rod - there is no way to recover the little energy that we play. By taking out Float Stone too, we're relying on AZ, Super Scoop Up or, crucially, energy to retreat. Subject to testing, I'd like to make space for Super Rod again.
 
Hi WastedSkyPirate,

You could consider to remove Muscle band for one Super Rod and two Grass Energy. You will still have Giovanni's Scheme if you need to extra 20 damage. However, after the fist Coil Serperior can ohko Shaymin Ex with Ariados anyway.
 
Have you considered trying this with the Vileplume item lock? Replace the Vespies with the Serperiors and i think it could be more potent with Servine's ability. After all this deck it meant to set up turn one same as Vileplume.
 
It's a good idea in passing but really there is no reason to run Serperior over Vespiquen - it would just be a worse version of VespiPlume. Trying to set up two Stage 2s in one turn is pretty off-putting + you'd be locking yourself out of reliably pulling off Snake Bind every turn as you'd lose Super Scoop Up, Ultra Ball, Revitaliser etc.
 
Maybe try 1 Pokemon Fan Club. Let's you grab the 1 Shaymin and one pokemon you need.

Though I have to say that this deck seems pretty fun.

I don't think an item lock is a good idea. SSU and AZ are too important.

Though it makes me wonder if there's a good partner for servine that would really appreciate the paralysis.
 
This will increase your energy requirements a bit but every think of running a couple Sceptile EX to provide more power/piggy back off of Servine/Ariados?
 
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