Zapdos ND and Fliptini?

C

Comeback_Kid

Aspiring Trainer
Member
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I got one of these (no EX's! :() at the Next Destinies pre-release I went to on Saturday, and noticed that it was a better card than I originall thought. I was able to take out a few Pokemon EX's and other otherwise tough to knock out Pokemon. So I got the idea of pairing it with Victini because of his Victory Star ability to try to maximize Zapdos's Thundering Hurricane attack. The problem I think I would run into is getting energy onto Zapdos fast. Does anybody know any ways to get energy onto Zapdos faster? Who should be paired with Zapdos and Victini? I was thinking Zekrom but I'm not sure yet. With the Potential to deal 200 damage, I think this could be a great card. I'm just not sure where to go with it yet. If anybody could give me advice on who to pair it with and how I could get energy onto Zapdos faster, I'd appreciate it. Also, cards from any set outside of the current format are fine, as I'm thinking about making this deck unlimited. Thanks.
 
Well there's the Pachirisu/Shaymin route...with DCE you'd have Zapdos's second attack turn 1. You could also do Electrode Prime or Eelektrik, possibly with Thundurus as a starter. As for outside the format, I have no idea.
 
Ahh yes, I forgot about Electrode Prime. I am a little skeptical about having him being knocked out as a result of his Poke-power though. Is it usually worth that? Perhaps Eelektrik is the best option, even though I'd have get energies into my discard pile first.
 
If you could somehow get Zapdos attacking with either of its attacks T1, I'd say go for it for the fact that you can snipe to kill basics and that it can defeat most pokemon, though it needs multiple heads. You could electrode it, Eel it for late game, or you can Pachi/Shaymin it, which is the route I would do becuase you can use it 1st Turn. If you play this deck with Eels, it will be more consistent (magnezone would be helpful too)
 
Eelektrik sounds like it might be a good move because of the later game consistency. Electrode is a one time use and Pachi/Shayman might be kind of hard to get set up T1, at least consistently, and it can only be used once without a Seeker or SSU. What If I used Thundurus as a starter for Charge, and used an Energy Switch to switch the energy he gets from him to Zapdos? I could put an Exp. Share tool on Zapdos too, so he would get an energy when my starter got knocked out. Maybe that's a little too crazy? I could add Eelektrik for the later game.
 
IMO Zapdos is a good card but not by itself. I like it as a counter to fighting types since it has resistance but still uses Electric Energy. It's IMO a better counter than Tornadus in decks like Eelzone.
 
Maybe you are right, Cinema. Perhaps a Zekrom, Zekrom EX, Thundurus, Eelektrik deck would be better then for a deck rather than Zapdos as a main attacker. The Zekrom EX and Thundurus could use their attacks to discard energy, and Eelektrik could just put them back onto a benched Zekrom. Energy switches could be used to get energy where it needs to go, and might be helpful for retreating Zekrom EX so he doesn't get knocked out. Skyarrow Bridge stadium might help with retreating too. Maybe this deserves its own thread if others think this is a good idea depending on what the mods think.
 
Zekrom/Zekrom EX/Thundurus and Eelektrik is already a well-defined and well-known deck. Frankly, it feels better than Zapdos by far, since the damage is more reliable, faster, and with more hp, although the snipe attack does make Zapdos possibly useful as a low-resource sniper early game.
 
Yes, I've noticed the lower-cost snipe can be so helpful! Especially against babies or taking out Vileplume. I didn't know Zekrom/Zekrom EX/Thundurus/Eelektrik was already a deck. Thanks for telling me this. I are there any threads here that discuss it?
 
This could be used as a counter to fighting-types in Eel_____ decks, though. The Resistance and same energy used makes it a really great counter, plus it's got a good amount of HP and okay attacks with energy acceleration.
 
Zapdos is amazing. Both attacks are dynamite. Fliptini should get you 150 easy, and 50 snipe is good. Now if I could get my hands on some, I'd be running them like a marathon.
 
I'm still thinking about running Zapdos, but the problem I ran into was getting Blue Flared/Bolt Striked by the dragons for a OHKO. So I'd definitely need to run some eviolite as well, and forget about the Exp. Share.
 
The problem is, even with Eviolite, Bolt Strike still one shots you because of weakness.

I like Zapdos.

I do not think he'll make a deck, but he may be an interesting tech in an eel deck.
 
Wow, I totally forgot about his electric weakness there. My bad. If Electric decks become more popular because of Eelektrik variants, and Donphan gets less popular I could see Zapdos having less of a role in the game. One of his main advantages for me is not only is he not weak to fighting, but resistant which makes him good in an electric-based deck.
 
I think Electric decks are becoming more popular which is why you could be seeing more Donphan variants, most notably the D&D variant. Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, they're all junk rares in the new set. Good luck having a 1 in 3 chance of pulling an EX you want, it's murder... -___-
 
Comeback_Kid said:
Wow, I totally forgot about his electric weakness there. My bad. If Electric decks become more popular because of Eelektrik variants, and Donphan gets less popular I could see Zapdos having less of a role in the game. One of his main advantages for me is not only is he not weak to fighting, but resistant which makes him good in an electric-based deck.
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If Electric decks become more popular, why would Donphan get less popular? :) If anything, it would get more popular because it takes Magnezone 4 energies to kill it and it takes Donphan 1 energy and a pluspower to knock it out, not to mention Donphan can be more consistent and fast. Zapdos can still be used for its sniping 50, which is a great basic killer, and I suggest you still hold onto your idea, because if Donphan/Fighting types do gain popularity, you have a counter.
 
Rougechomp said:
If Electric decks become more popular, why would Donphan get less popular? :) If anything, it would get more popular because it takes Magnezone 4 energies to kill it and it takes Donphan 1 energy and a pluspower to knock it out, not to mention Donphan can be more consistent and fast. Zapdos can still be used for its sniping 50, which is a great basic killer, and I suggest you still hold onto your idea, because if Donphan/Fighting types do gain popularity, you have a counter.
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I guess it just seems like I see less and less of him, but you are right. Although Donphan might be rotated soon and most people know/think that, so they may not bother with him. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I will definitely hold onto the idea and see what decks become popular after Next Destinies hits.
 
For 4 Energy I don't think it is consistent enough to be worth it, also with Zek EX/Zek/Magnezone running rampant over the format. Lightning might not be the best weakness to have. Being a basic is nice but it requires Fliptini to make up the flip requirement so it isn't standalone. Most decks any deck you would want to run with this doesn't run Fliptini so that's just another slot to fill for an inconsistent attacker that isn't necessarily. Also just because Donphan could be rotated in the future, I don't expect anytime within the next 6 months, that doesn't make it a bad play. I'm building and working with Donchamp again for this very reason.
 
I actually just play tested a Zapdos deck against my own Donchamp deck. Donphan's resistance to lightning just gives Zapdos too much trouble. I just couldn't get lucky enough on the rolls. That's too bad because Zapdos is a good card in a format that minimizes his effectiveness.
 
Zapdos isn't included for Donphan. Terrakion is the real threat, and Zapdos + Eviolite reduces Terrakion's damage to a 3-hit KO. You can snipe around Terrakion, or roll for the big hit. 4 heads in two turns KO's. And any snipe damage to an EX or anything with high HP will help Zekrom EX or Magnezone. Just my take on it.
 
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