Standard Yanmega and Decidueye

[Crizor]

I've been messing around with these two for a little bit and it seems decent. When Guardians Rising initially dropped I was really worried about having to play around Sylveon being popular since people love Eeveelutions and Sylveon had a somewhat unique style of play. I felt this was a decent way to get around energy denial. However, it seems like Sylveon isn't going to be meta whatsoever and sort of destroys the original purpose of the deck. While Yanmega can One-for-One decently well with Garb, Garb usually ends up with a lot more tempo when I play the matchup and usually has a one of Garbotoxin to make it a bit harder. Also people now have access to Hex a lot easier now with Lele in the format, but this seems to only matter if they are ahead as if they are behind or still setting up they are using a lot of resources just to essentially stall.

A nice thing about it though is that it seems to do well against some other decently popular decks, such as Water Box, Ninetales, Greninja, and Lycanroc. DeciduPlume seems to come down to whoever goes first or gets setup first and Rayquaza seems to go okay if I get 2 Yanmegas setup and recur them throughout the game.

I want to play it competitively but I don't feel it's refined enough to do so yet, since I feel like it loses to the most popular deck right now by a slight amount. So do you have any thoughts on how to make it a bit better and decent additions for meta calls?

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 22

* 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 106
* 4 Rowlet SUM 9
* 3 Dartrix SUM 10
* 3 Decidueye-GX SUM 12
* 2 Yanmega BREAK STS 8
* 4 Yanma STS 6
* 4 Yanmega STS 7

##Trainer Cards - 34

* 4 Trainers' Mail ROS 92
* 1 Enhanced Hammer GRI 124
* 1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
* 2 Lysandre AOR 78
* 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
* 2 Field Blower GRI 125
* 4 Forest of Giant Plants AOR 74
* 3 VS Seeker ROS 110
* 2 Revitalizer GEN 70
* 3 N FAC 105
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 2 Float Stone BKT 137
* 4 Ultra Ball FAC 113

##Energy - 4

* 2 Double Colorless Energy SUM 136
* 2 Grass Energy Energy 1

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

 

[TuxedoBlack]

I run this deck too and our builds are quite similar; however, I run:

• Only 1 Shaymin EX and a Tapu Lele GX which provides a bit more versatility;
• 2 Level Ball in order to help setup fast;
• 1 Judge to ensure I can have 4 cards in hand in order to use the Sonic Vision Ability;
• 1 Lillie which works quite well in a "heavy" Item-laden deck;
• 1 Olympia to provide "reusable" switching capability since Field Blower is also quite popular now too;
• 1 Parallel City to remove unwanted/unneeded Pokémon from my bench or to disrupt my opponent's bench; and
• With the popularity of Garbodor and Hex Maniac, I also run a bit more energy too: 3 DC and 3 G.

I hope you find these comments helpful.

 

[Crizor]

What do you drop for a lot of these? The changes I can easily see myself doing are dropping one Enhanced Hammer, one Trainers' Mail, and one Rowlet, but after that it seems really hard for me.

Do you feel that setting up faster with Level Ball is worth it against GUR Garbodor? I can maybe see the small tempo boost helping against it, but it does come at a cost and Garb himself sets up amazingly fast.

I really want to run Tapu Lele + Lillie, but I haven't cracked one open yet nor have had enough packs to get one yet. I can see it being amazingly good turn 1 with getting setup and Lele is probably the lowest opportunity cost in the game.

Also, how have you been doing with the deck? Do you play it in paper and is it still decent in paper metas?

 

[joffreyspikes]

A great deck, in my opinion, that I have hypothesised for a while. An improvement I would add to the decklist would be to remove 1 Rowlet in favour of another Yanmega BREAK. If it is a Rowlet dying and thus cutting off a Decidueye line that you had an issue with, you already include Revitaliser and Rescue Stretcher in this deck anyway.

I also do not feel that the Enhanced Hammer is totally necessary. Of course, its a great disruption card, but this isn't really a disruption/control deck. Consider the removal of the Hammer in favour of Pokémon Ranger. After all, many Water Toolbox decks are running Glaceon-EX at the moment, which would leave your only line of attack as Shaymin's Sky Return: not optional. Pokémon Ranger is great for digging your way out of undesirable situations.

Last of all, I would also recommend the inclusion of a Lillie in the place of 1 Trainers' Mail, much like @TuxedoBlack. 3 is enough, and getting Lillie in your starting hand can be great as it can draw a lot of cards.

So, in summary:

• +1 Yanmega BREAK
• +1 Pokémon Ranger
• +1 Lillie

• -1 Rowlet
• -1 Enhanced Hammer
• -1 Trainers' Mail

I hope you find my comments useful!

 

[Crizor]

After all, many Water Toolbox decks are running Glaceon-EX at the moment, which would leave your only line of attack as Shaymin's Sky Return

I thought Yanmega Break's attack gets through Glaceon? It's been a while since I've played true Waterbox and not just Lapras and Friends so I might be remembering wrong. But I definitely agree with the other changes of +1 Yanmega Break and +1 Lillie (If I get my hands on a Lele). The fourth Rowlet was there to dodge Shaymin starts, as they hurt a lot more than normal since I have very few retreat resources, but Rowlet himself is still high on the cut list.