Undefeated… for 3rd Place, a Battle Roads Report

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The elusive competitive Pokédad.

Hello SixPrizes! My name is Steve Lewis, and I’m a competitive Pokédad, if there is such a thing, from the Houston, Texas area.

In this article, I’ll be discussing my results from three Battle Roads tournaments playing the Team Plasma deck. I’ll reveal my decklists, as well as the reasoning behind the card choices, including the list from my most recent tournament, where I went undefeated … to finish in 3rd place. Obviously, there’s a story there. As a bonus, I’ll also share a Kecleon PLF/Ho-Oh EX decklist that my friend was able to pilot to a 5-1 record for 2nd place at the tournament.

This is my first article since the middle of City Championships, during which I played Ho-Oh EX all season garnering one 3rd place finish and three more top 8 finishes. I then judged at the St. Charles Regional Championship in January and the Louisiana State Championship in March. At the Texas State Championship, I played Big Basics (Landorus-EX/Mewtwo EX/Tornadus EX) going 6-2 through Swiss for 19th place and just missing Top Cut. This is the second year in a row that I went 6-2 at the Texas State Championship, and I hope I can keep up the streak, or even improve my record, for next year!

My son is a competitive Junior player, and he played a very similar Ho-Oh EX deck during City Championships earning two 1st place and two 2nd place finishes. For the Texas State Championship, he played an identical, card-for-card Big Basics list and took 2nd place. Putting these results together with his 3rd place finish at the South Fall Regionals here in Houston and his Battle Roads performances, and he has earned enough Championship Points to qualify for the World Championship in August, which has his whole family very excited.

Now, I’m telling you about my son’s wins because they are an important key to understanding my main motivation for Spring Battle Roads, which is to test the Team Plasma deck as much as possible before the National and World Championships. Currently, both my son and I plan to run versions of the deck at these tournaments, although I guess the meta could change or a surprise deck could appear.

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Pulling good cards is a skill.

Although some of the cards for the Team Plasma deck can be very expensive, I was lucky enough to pull 3 Deoxys-EX and 3 Kyurem PLF just by attending and judging Plasma Freeze Prereleases and purchasing a few packs from my local PTO. (I have to give credit to my son for pulling one of the Kyurem PLF at a Prerelease.) I then traded for and purchased 3 Thundurus EX to finish the deck.

We already had several Lugia EX and Snorlax PLS , so I didn’t need to buy or trade for them. Although I tried these cards in my initial testing, eventually I settled on a straight TDK (Thundurus EX/Deoxys-EX/Kyurem PLF) deck without any other Plasma Pokémon.

Since I don’t have a 4th Deoxys-EX, all of my decklists only include 3. I couldn’t tell you if 4 Deoxys-EX is better than 3, but I would think that having 4 would only be better for games when you’re actually attacking with him. Otherwise, that’s a lot of bench space being taken up for just some extra damage. Of course having 4 Deoxys-EX would help with bad prizes, so I can definitely see that argument.

Anyway, here was the list I played at the first Battle Roads tournament, which was very similar to other lists that have been posted on The Deck Out, SixPrizes, and HeyTrainer.

Pokémon – 9

3 Thundurus EX
3 Deoxys-EX
3 Kyurem PLF

Trainers – 38

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3 Skyla
2 Bianca
1 Colress

 

3 Pokémon Catcher
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Colress Machine
3 Ultra Ball
2 Team Plasma Ball
3 Switch
2 Float Stone
1 PlusPower
1 Dowsing Machine

 

1 Virbank City Gym
1 Frozen City

Energy – 13

4 Prism
4 Blend WLFM
4 Plasma
1 L

Here are the thought processes that went into the decklist.

Thundurus EX

Thinking that he was the ideal starter for the deck, I wanted to play 3. Playing 4 seemed like overkill because of how weak the first attack is and how hard it is to power up the second attack.

Deoxys-EX

Well I only have 3, so 3 it is.

Kyurem PLF

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The best attacker in the deck.

In testing, I was originally running just 2 and 1 Lugia EX. Very quickly I realized that Kyurem PLF was the best attacker in the deck, and that Lugia EX was very situational and tough to get going when running only 1 Double Colorless Energy (DCE). I’ve since decided that any deck that wants to run Lugia EX probably needs to devote a lot of resources (multiple DCEs, 4 Colress Machine, Scramble Switch, etc.) to getting a Lugia EX going as soon as possible.

In addition, if Lugia EX needs the extra damage from Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym to get the Knock Out, then I lose the benefit of getting the extra prize with its ability. I just think that having a 130 HP, non-EX attacker that can spread with Frost Spear and then hit hard with Blizzard Burn is a better option.

Of course, Kyurem PLF does have its drawbacks. You wouldn’t think 130 HP is very low, but in today’s metagame, it really is low. Losing a Kyurem PLF with 3 energies attached can set you back several turns and sometimes decide the game.

Supporters

4 Professor Juniper and 4 N are standard counts for any speed deck trying to get a fast start. I still like having 3 Skyla, not because I’ll play her 3 times in a game, but because I want to play her the one time that I really need a Pokémon Catcher or Hypnotoxic Laser. Plus, she’s a guaranteed supporter of my choice for the next turn, which is really darn good, allowing me to grab a Professor Juniper, N, or even Colress, depending on the situation.

In this list, I only had 1 Colress because I didn’t want it in my opening hand, and Bianca is just, well, Bianca. Over time, my appreciation for Colress would change.

Items

Here is where lists can really vary from person to person. I ran a pretty vanilla Switch count (3 Switch/2 Float Stone) and a pretty normal Pokémon search (3 Ultra Ball/2 Team Plasma Ball). The higher count of Ultra Ball is to help get energies in the discard pile for Thundurus EX’s Raiden Knuckle attack.

I only run 3 Colress Machine because if you attach one Plasma Energy during a game, then the 4th Colress Machine is a dead card. The 4 Hypnotoxic Lasers are pretty standard as they help Kyurem PLF Knock Out the big Pokémon-EX.

I run Frozen City because it gives me more control on how much damage the poison from Hypnotoxic Laser is doing, especially late game or when you’re drawing dead and waiting to top deck a Supporter. Also, the card is really good against Blastoise decks, if you can win the stadium war. In a lot of matches, a second Virbank City Gym was a dead card in my hand anyway, as it seems like everyone is running the stadium.

I only ran 3 Pokémon Catcher because in testing I was typically going after the energy, which was usually on the active Pokémon. Plus with Dowsing Machine, I thought I could always reuse a Pokémon Catcher in a pinch.

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An interesting choice.

Finally, we come to the one controversial card in my list, the single PlusPower. So, in my testing matches, I often found that I was 10 damage short from getting a crucial Knock Out during a game. Now maybe running a 4th Deoxys-EX would help with that, and most of the time, that would probably be true.

But there is one game situation where the PlusPower can mean the difference between winning and losing and where another Deoxys-EX wouldn’t help at all. In the mirror matchup, I feel that a lot of games are going to come down to a Deoxys-EX war, similar to Mewtwo EX wars last summer.

If I have a Deoxys-EX with a Prism Energy and a Plasma Energy attached, and my opponent has a Deoxys-EX with one energy attached, there isn’t an easy way for me to Knock him Out and take my last 2 Prizes. With Mewtwo EX, you could just attach another DCE and it was “Good game.” Instead, a Deoxys-EX will only do 120 damage (60 damage x 2 after weakness) to the defending Deoxys-EX in that situation.

However, with a PlusPower, Helix Force does a base damage of 70, which is 140 after weakness. Add in the 30 damage from Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym, and you have the magical 170 damage for the Knock Out! Have I been able to pull this off very often? Only once, but I haven’t played a lot of mirror matches yet either.

I’ve also used the PlusPower to get extra damage for Knocking Out Darkrai EX, Landorus-EX (using Frost Spear after it already had 30 damage), Absol PLF, and even Sableye DEX. In addition, since I was playing Dowsing Machine, I could potentially use multiple PlusPowers during a game. All in all, it seemed like it might be worth the spot.

Energy

Nothing too surprising here as the 4 Prism Energy and 4 Plasma Energy are standard. Since I’m not playing Lugia EX, I’m running 4 Blend WLFM Energy and 1 L Energy. The single L Energy helps a lot with the Plasma Klinklang matchup, allowing me to attack with Thundurus EX and power up a Kyurem PLF on the bench. Since Klinklang decks typically play a low count of Pokémon Catcher, you can afford to spend a turn or two powering up a Kyurem PLF on the bench before attacking with him.

Now, let’s get on to the tournament reports.

Space Cadets, Oak Ridge North, Texas – May 18, 2013

Round 1 – Katie Johnson with Blastoise BCR, Keldeo-EX, and Black Kyurem-EX PLS

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The Beast.

Katie is a super nice Pokémon player, and she was playing a very solid Blastoise list with multiple Tropical Beach. I misplayed a little bit on the first turn. I use a Pokémon Catcher to get her Squirtle active, but I don’t play the Virbank City Gym in my hand. Sure enough, I draw the Hypnotoxic Laser after playing N, so I could have Knocked Out her lone Squirtle.

Next turn she Rare Candies into Blastoise, and it’s an uphill battle from there. I put up a good fight, using Deoxys-EX to counter her Keldeo-EX and forcing her to take extra damage from Frozen City. Eventually it comes down to me needing to Catcher her damaged Black Kyurem EX on the bench for my last 2 Prizes.

Unfortunately, my last Pokémon Catcher is prized, and I’ve already played my Dowsing Machine. I lose on the following turn, and I know that playing only 3 Pokémon Catchers was a big mistake.

0-1

Round 2 – Katelyn with Blastoise BCR, Keldeo-EX, and Black Kyurem-EX PLS

Katelyn is another very nice player from the Katy League near my home. I am facing a turn 2 Blastoise once again, and she quickly goes up 3 Prizes to none. Fortunately, I saw this coming and wait to play N. She apparently gets stuck with a bad hand of 3 cards, and I am able to sweep from there.

1-1

Round 3 – Luke with Hydreigon DRX 97, Darkrai EX, Sableye DEX, Absol PLF, Sigilyph DRX, and Mewtwo EX

So, the main problem with getting an early loss at a tournament is that you fall to the lower tables and have to work your way back to the top tables. Mixed in with all the normal meta-decks, you may find a rogue deck or meta-deck from a previous format at these lower tables.

Although these decks may not be ultra-competitive for the current format, they may have a good matchup against your deck. Such was the case with my third round opponent playing Hydreigon DRX.

I believe the Plasma deck mostly earns prizes by 2-shotting EX’s and 1-shotting any low HP Pokémon. Thus it has a bad matchup against any deck that can move energy and heal damage before you’ve taken the Knock Out, like Hydreigon DRX. To make matters worse, Luke Rare Candied into 2 Hydreigon DRX on Turn 2. Yikes.

From that point on he had the advantage. If there was any doubt, his move mid-game solidified the win. As he’s powering up a Darkrai EX, I noticed him bench a Mewtwo EX. In anticipation of an upcoming battle, I used Colress Machine to attach a Plasma Energy to a benched Deoxys-EX. Big mistake.

On his next turn, Luke retreated to Mewtwo EX, played a Pokémon Catcher for my Deoxys-EX with 1 Energy, and Dark Tranced 4 D Energy onto Mewtwo EX to X Ball for the Knock Out. On my turn, I looked to return the Knock Out with a Deoxys-EX, but I missed either the Prism Energy or the Colress Machine, and couldn’t return the favor. Needless to say, I lost.

1-2

Round 4 – Sebastian Edwards with Darkrai EX, Absol PLF, Sableye DEX, and Keldeo-EX

Sebastian is a good friend of mine from Katy League, and this game is very close. I end up winning because I benched a second Thundurus EX late game, allowing me to use Raiden Knuckle to setup a Kyurem PLF on the bench. He couldn’t find the Pokémon Catcher to take his last prize, and I was able to get a Knock Out for my last prizes on the next turn.

2-2

Round 5 – Stephen with Darkrai EX, Absol PLF, Sableye DEX, Lugia EX, and Hammers

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A surprise tech.

Stephen is another Pokédad, and he is playing a crazy, teched-out Darkrai EX list. Mid-game, he attaches a Plasma Energy to a benched Absol PLF, which catches my attention. The next turn, he uses Colress Machine to attach a second Plasma Energy to the benched Absol PLF. Who plays Plasma Energy and Colress Machine in a Darkrai EX deck?

Immediately I realize that he must be playing Lugia EX and Scramble Switch. So I catcher the Absol PLF and Knock it Out on my next turn even though it’s not as big a threat as his Darkrai EX or his Sableye DEX that he keeps using to Junk Hunt for Enhanced Hammers. But the following turn he lets out a strangled “Ugh!” as he top decks the card he would have needed to pull off the Lugia EX surprise appearance.

At the end of the game, I need to take 2 more prizes and he has Hammered away 3 Blend WLFM Energies and 4 Prism Energies. Thinking that I have 1 Blend WLFM Energy left in the deck, I play Dowsing Machine for a Team Plasma Ball. I search my deck, see the last Blend WLFM Energy, and remove a Thundurus EX leaving 7 cards remaining in the deck. Then I play Professor Juniper to draw my entire deck.

I attach the Blend WLFM Energy to Kyurem PLF and use Frost Spear to Knock Out the active Sableye DEX and damaged Absol PLF on his bench for my last 2 Prizes. If that Blend Energy had been prized, I wouldn’t have been able to perform another attack.

3-2

Round 6 – Scott with Sigilyph DRX and Mewtwo EX

I get a slow start, but I play very carefully, benching only Kyurem PLF and Deoxys-EX. I would have benched a Thundurus EX if it was needed to get back energies, but I didn’t need to. This is basically an old versus new matchup, and the new is just plain better than the old. I win 6 Prizes to none.

4-2

Team Plasma decks running heavy lines of Kyurem PLF take the top spots in Masters at the tournament. My son finished 3rd in Juniors running essentially the same Big Basics list he played during States. I finished in 14th place, and overall I’m very disappointed with my performance, my play, and some of the card choices I made in the deck. But I regrouped and adjusted the list for the following day.

This time, I played 4 Pokémon Catchers, 3 Hypnotoxic Lasers, 3 Colress, and no Bianca. Bianca had been very subpar on the day netting me 2-3 cards typically. Most people were playing thicker lines of Colress and getting 8-10 cards each time.

Skirmish Games, Deer Park, Texas – May 19, 2013

Round 1 – Josh Botello with Chandelure PLF, Reshiram BLW, and Rayquaza EX

Josh is playing a fun deck at this tournament and doesn’t have any high expectations, which is good, because Kyurem PLF is no fun to face when you have a fire deck. I win 6-0.

1-0

Round 2 – Jeff Harris with Klinklang PLS and Cobalion-EX

Jeff Harris is a judge who always seems to win when he’s not judging. I get a pretty good start, but I end up using Raiden Knuckle to attach Plasma Energies from the discard pile instead of Prism or Blend Energies. He gets a turn 2 or 3 Plasma Klinklang , and I decide to attack with Kyurem PLF before it has 3 energies attached.

This strategy doesn’t work, and though I am able to Knock Out a Cobalion-EX, I end up in a tight spot needing to start setting up my third Kyurem PLF. Unfortunately it’s prized, and I can’t win.

1-1

Round 3 – Vincent with Darkrai EX and Sableye DEX

Vincent has a very slow start and I was able to Knock Out a Sableye DEX and a Darkrai EX to bench him for the game.

2-1

Round 4 – April Lewis with Darkrai EX, Absol PLF, Sableye DEX, and Keldeo-EX

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I got jacked up.

That’s right, I was playing my daughter. We end up playing each other at a lot of tournaments, and lately I’ve lost each timed I’ve faced her.

In this game, she gets a slow start with just a Keldeo-EX in play. I use Raiden Knuckle over the first few turns to setup my Kyurem PLFs and damage her Keldeo-EX. She finally draws a supporter and gets going. A few turns later she plays a Max Potion on the Keldeo-EX erasing all my early work.

At a crucial point in the game, she has an Absol PLF active with a Darkrai EX and a Sableye DEX on the bench. I could attach a third energy to a Kyurem PLF and Knock Out the Absol PLF, but I’m thinking she has the cards to immediately load up the Darkrai EX and get the return Knock Out. If she does, all my energies would go off the board, and I would be in a tough spot.

So I decide to just Raiden Knuckle to do some more damage and setup another attacker. She plays a Pokémon Catcher to Knock Out the Kyurem PLF next turn. Then I search my deck and realize that my third Kyurem PLF is prized. Without this big attacker, the deck just doesn’t seem to have an answer for this matchup.

In retrospect, I should have Knocked Out her Absol PLF and forced her to have the cards to respond. I played too timidly and ended up with a bad result.

2-2

Round 5 – Brian with Rayquaza EX and Eelektrik

I donk his lone Tynamo NVI with Thundurus EX. We play another game for fun, and I Knock Out Tynamos left and right to take easy prizes. It could have been his decklist, but this didn’t even feel like a fair fight.

3-2

Round 6 – Jorge Sinay with Darkrai EX, Absol PLF, Sableye DEX, and Keldeo-EX

Again I face a fellow player from my league. I get off to a roaring start Knocking Out his active Sableye DEX on my first turn. I just continue to draw really well, and I quickly take all my prizes using Blizzard Burn multiple times during the game.

4-2

This time I finish in 12th place, but again I’m not satisfied with my playing. I lost the only tough matches I played, and both losses seem to have been caused by having a Kyurem PLF prized. My other matches were just incredibly easy wins. I did like the changes I made to the deck. Colress was a great draw supporter, and I really didn’t miss the 4th Hypnotoxic Laser. Of course, the PlusPower didn’t really do anything either.

For the second straight tournament, Team Plasma decks finished at the top 2 spots. However, Klinklang PLS was also very strong and represented 4 of the top 8 finishers. So much for Klinklang being all washed up. My son didn’t attend this tournament.

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Helps keep Energies in play.

During the week following this tournament, I played around with several changes to the deck, dropping a Thundurus EX, adding a Keldeo-EX, and even tried running 4 Kyurem PLF. In the end, I made a couple decisions.

First, I decided that the current metagame requires either Max Potion or some kind of recovery such as Super Rod to get back my Kyurem PLF and Deoxys-EX. Second, I decided that keeping energies in play was more important than reusing items or supporters. So I changed the ACE SPEC in the deck from Dowsing Machine to Scramble Switch and added a couple Max Potion.

These cards also work really well with Keldeo-EX. In fact, Keldeo-EX + Float Stone is just a ridiculously good combination, even better than I had imagined. Since I was running Prism and Blend Energies for Kyurem PLF, Keldeo-EX could actually be another attacker for the deck, especially with Scramble Switch.

I toyed around with Team Plasma Badge and 2 Keldeo-EX, but eventually I settled on a simpler more consistent list without these gimmicks. I also realized that I needed to change my strategy for the Darkrai EX matchup. Kyurem PLF is just too easily Knocked Out by both Darkrai EX and Absol PLF thanks to Dark Claw and Hypnotoxic Laser. I decided that I needed to use Deoxys-EX to attack Darkrai EX in future contests.

I also ended up play testing almost every night during the week to prepare for the next tournament. Here is the list I used:

Pokémon – 9

2 Thundurus EX
3 Deoxys-EX
3 Kyurem PLF
1 Keldeo-EX

Trainers – 38

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
3 Skyla
2 Colress
1 Bianca

 

4 Pokémon Catcher
3 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Colress Machine
3 Float Stone
2 Ultra Ball
2 Team Plasma Ball
2 Max Potion
1 PlusPower
1 Switch
1 Scramble Switch

 

1 Virbank City Gym
1 Frozen City

Energy – 13

4 Prism
4 Blend WLFM
4 Plasma
1 L

Denny’s Restaurant, Spring, Texas – May 25, 2013

Mike Cook, the Houston-area PTO, has a good relationship with Denny’s Restaurants in town, and he holds tournaments at these restaurants quite often. Since the larger restaurants typically close down one side of the restaurant after noon, the Denny’s stores make pretty good venues for afternoon tournaments.

Round 1 – James with Victini-EX and Zapdos-EX

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Shocking.

James is a Pokédad with players at both the Junior and Senior levels competing in the tournament. I’m not sure what all was in his deck because I only saw a Victini-EX and a Zapdos-EX. I go first with a Kyurem PLF active and a Deoxys-EX on the bench. He starts lone Victini-EX, and immediately I’m thinking about the donk.

I play out my hand using Colress Machine to get a Plasma Energy on the active Kyurem PLF and then use Bianca to draw 6 cards. Unfortunately I whiff getting either a Prism or Blend Energy and simply attach a Plasma Energy to a benched Deoxys-EX. I am able to quickly take care of the Victini-EX on subsequent turns, and then his Zapdos-EX is Knocked Out from several turns of poison damage as he can’t get out another Pokémon.

1-0

Round 2 – Jason Chavez with Lugia EX, Deoxys-EX, and Plasma Eeveelutions

Jason says he hasn’t beaten me in quite awhile, but all I know is every match with him is pretty tough. He gets going pretty quickly, getting out a couple Umbreon PLF, Deoxys-EX, and a Lugia EX. I’m down in prizes when I realize that 3-of his Plasma Energies are in the discard pile, that the 4th Plasma Energy is attached to a benched Deoxys-EX, and that all of his other energies in play are attached to Lugia EX. I think he had even played his Scramble Switch by that point too.

Seeing that I have time, I start spreading damage with Kyurem PLF, especially to his benched Deoxys-EX . In the end, I play N to give us both two cards. He uses the Deoxys-EX to Knock Out my Kyurem PLF, but I have Professor Juniper in hand to draw a Prism Energy for the return Knock Out with my Deoxys-EX and Helix Force. Had he played Shadow Triad in his deck, I probably would have lost.

2-0

Round 3 – Chris with Darkrai EX, Absol PLF, and Sableye DEX

This was a very interesting game. Chris played very slowly, and our game would go to time. He also played Hammers, which slowed down my attacks considerably. I was forced to use Raiden Knuckle on several occasions to recover.

After he Catchered and Knocked Out my one Kyurem PLF with two energies attached, I didn’t bench another Kyurem PLF. Instead, I setup and attacked with Deoxys-EX. For example, during one sequence I promoted Deoxys-EX and used Helix Force for 100 damage to his Darkrai EX.

Then he retreated to Absol PLF and used Mind Jack for 100 or 120 damage to my Deoxys-EX (I can’t remember which). Then I manually retreated to another Deoxys-EX, played Max Potion to heal all the damage from the Deoxys-EX on my bench, played Pokémon Catcher to bring up the damaged Darkrai EX, and used Helix Force for the Knock Out.

I only took 4 Prizes in this game by Knocking Out 2 Darkrai EX, but he only took 3 Prizes by Knocking Out a Kyurem PLF and another EX. In the end, he couldn’t take another prize, and I won on time.

3-0

Round 4 – Gary with Blastoise BCR, Keldeo-EX, and Black Kyurem-EX PLS

Gary is a Pokédad for a very successful Senior player. He was playing Blastoise BCR, but his son was using their Tropical Beach stadiums in a Gothitelle EPO/Mew-EX/Accelgor DEX deck. Fortunately for me, his deck had one Pokémon Center and a Dowsing Machine.

I played my Virbank City Gym early, which he removed with the Pokémon Center, but then I played my Frozen City, which remained in play the rest of the game as his Dowsing Machine was prized.

Once he benched two Squirtles, I left his Blastoise BCR alone and focused on the Pokémon-EX. I Knocked Out two Keldeo-EX’s using a combination of Thundurus EX, Deoxys-EX, and Kyurem PLF. Finally he got a Black Kyurem-EX PLS out, but he had to use Black Ballista twice to Knock Out two Kyurem PLFs, otherwise he would have gotten steamrolled.

By the time he finished doing that, the Black Kyurem-EX PLS had so much damage due to Frozen City that I was able to Knock it Out using Thundurus EX’s Raiden Knuckle to take my last 2 Prizes.

4-0

Round 5 – Jessie Perkins with Kyurem PLF and Deoxys-EX

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Tech scoop up.

Jessie is a talented player who’s been having a very good year. He won a City Championship with Ho-Oh EX. Then he won both the Texas and Mississippi State Championships with a Big Basics + Lugia EX deck.

As of this tournament, he was sitting pretty at 363 Championship Points. Since he didn’t play in many Fall Battle Roads, he has the chance to pick up his remaining Championship Points at Spring Battle Roads. On top of that, he has a very good Plasma deck and took 1st and 2nd place at the previous week’s Battle Roads.

Knowing that he was looking for the points (and knowing that I was very far from qualifying for Worlds with my 130 Championship Points), I offered to scoop before we started playing. There weren’t any other players in the tournament with more than 300 Championship Points, so I can’t imagine anyone viewing me scooping as unfair or unethical.

The closest was probably William Correa who had 256 Championship Points, and even he has told me that he has to Top 8 at U.S. Nationals to earn the Worlds invite. Anyway, Jessie graciously accepted the win, and we played a game for fun.

Well, somehow, I got off to a raging start while he had a very slow start. Each time he got enough energy on a Kyurem PLF to attack, I was able to respond with the Knock Out to basically wipe all his energies off the field. Though the official record says I lost, I won our friendly mirror match pretty easily.

4-1 (really 5-0)

Round 6 – Kylan with Klinklang PLS, Klinklang BLW, Cobalion-EX, and Cobalion NVI

Another round, another different deck; welcome to the Houston-area meta. More than anything else, it’s the variety of decks that makes playing in Houston so challenging. As it typically is, this matchup is not easy for the Plasma deck. To win, you have to do early damage with Thundurus EX while setting up Kyurem PLF, your non-EX attacker. However, the damage has to be done to the right things, and it can be erased thanks to Max Potion.

I was able to get going fast enough to setup two Kyurem PLF. I Knocked Out 2 Cobalion-EX and a Klink (I think) to take 5 Prizes, while he focused on taking down my Kyurems to take 2 Prizes. I’m pretty sure I pulled off the Scramble Switch + Max Potion combo to immediately setup a second Kyurem PLF and completely heal the first at one point during the game.

Near the end of the game, I just could not draw into my last Kyurem PLF in the deck, even after playing Colress for 10 cards, and I had burned all my Pokémon search cards. However, I kept trying to disrupt him with Pokémon Catcher, Hypnotoxic Laser, and even Frozen City. This forced him to keep playing cards in his deck and keep digging for Switches and Max Potions.

On the turn after I played the Colress, I noticed that both of our decks had dwindled to just a few cards (one of which was my last Kyurem PLF!). He had a hand of 2 cards, with only 1 card in his deck, and still had 4 Prizes remaining. I quickly did the math and played my last N. I drew 1 card and he drew his whole deck and was forced to say, “Good game” on the following turn. Whew! So glad I played 4 N.

5-1 (really 6-0)

The tournament standings got a little interesting since two people with records of 4-0 and 3-1, respectively, dropped from the tournament going into the 5th round, and all the top 4 finishers had 5-1 records. Fortunately for him, Jessie Perkins finished in 1st place to pick up another crucial 15 Championship Points.

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Purdy.

I finished in 3rd place for a nice 10 additional Championship Points and pulled a full art Latias-EX from my prize packs. My son finished in 2nd place with Big Basics again and pulled the shiny Ultra Ball, which is a really nice looking card. The 1st place winner in Juniors played Blastoise BCR, Keldeo-EX, Black Kyurem-EX PLS, and Crystal Wall. Man, you gotta love Juniors.

Overall, I was very pleased with the latest build for my Plasma deck except for one thing. There were several times throughout the day where I missed an energy attachment for the turn. It made me wonder if 13 energies aren’t enough because of Colress Machine and how this energy acceleration from the deck keeps lowering my chances at drawing into an energy with my Supporters.

And for another week, the 1 PlusPower was never really needed. Running a 4th Hypnotoxic Laser may have been a better call. I also plan to test removing the PlusPower and adding another energy, probably a basic W Energy, to try and fix the energy attachment issue.

I definitely think that running the Keldeo-EX and a thick Float Stone line was the correct call. The card combination is just so good helping to reuse Blizzard Burn for consecutive turns and to avoid having to pass a turn due to sleep status. I may have to change my thinking if people start running heavy counts of Tool Scrapper.

Alternatively, if Gothitelle EPO/Mew-EX/Accelgor DEX becomes very popular, then people will be forced to run two Keldeo-EX’s and possibly even a Darkrai EX in their Plasma Decks just to remove the status condition. Audino BCR is also an option, but you’ll have to randomly draw into it because Gothitelle EPO takes out the Ultra Ball option.

Kecleon/Ho-Oh

Finally, my friend Ross Wooten went 5-1 for 2nd place in Masters with a Kecleon PLF/Ho-Oh EX deck that we put together right before the tournament started. Obviously, I have to give credit to Kyle Sucevich (Pooka) of The Top Cut for posting a video with his own Kecleon PLF/Ho-Oh EX deck and giving us the initial idea.

The strategy for playing the deck is to use the correct Pokémon to counter any particular matchup and then use Ho-Oh EX for energy acceleration or as a late game attacker. Here is Ross’s 2nd place winning list from the day:

Pokémon – 12

2 Kecleon PLF
2 Ho-oh EX
2 Absol PLF
1 Keldeo-EX
1 Cobalion-EX
1 Cobalion NVI
1 Landorus-EX
1 Terrakion NVI
1 Victini NVI 15

Trainers – 34

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
2 Bianca
2 Skyla
1 Colress

 

4 Ultra Ball
4 Pokémon Catcher
4 Hypnotoxic Laser
4 Energy Switch
3 Float Stone

1 Computer Search

 

1 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 14

3 Prism
3 M
3 F
2 D
1 R
1 W
1 Plasma

I’m not sure if winning with a list like this reveals the power of Kecleon PLF, Ho-Oh EX, Absol PLF (who Ross tells me was his MVP on the day) or Hypnotoxic Laser! Hopefully this list can at least provide a starting point for people trying to brainstorm something new and different to play.

I have a couple more Battle Road tournaments to play and a couple to judge before I finish the season. Then it’s on to U.S. Nationals! Good luck to everyone else competing at Battle Roads and National tournaments.

Reader Interactions

17 replies

  1. killerpotatoe

    So you faced a Katie and a Katelyn near the Katy league? :/

  2. Houlihan

    No Lugia in any of your Plasma decks?! Words cannot adequately describe my disappointment…

    • poet larsen  → Houlihan

      uhhh what are u talking about. Kyurem is waaaay better than Lugia. It’s attack cost less, it does the same amount of damage as Lugia, and it is not an EX. It can also setup other KO’s with its first attack.

      • Piplup_isPimp  → poet

        It all depends on how you run your TDK decks with Lugia and Kyurem. If you were to have a deck specifically built to accelerate Lugia vs. a a deck specifically built to accelerate kyurem, the lugia deck would win due to the fact that with the right build, Lugia is faster than Kyurem and can take 2 prizes on a kyurem by OHKOing it with only one deoxys. None the less, there are some lists that can be completely dominating towards other decks (not just Lugia vs. Kyurem but that specific TDK list vs. any other deck), it all depends on your list/build.

        • poet larsen  → Piplup_isPimp

          I think overall though Kyurem outways Lugia. Lugia might be easier to power up since its attack only costs colorless energies, but Kyurem has so many more things going for it than Lugia. Some of those things are: only giving up one prize, does the same amount of damage as Lugia, needs fewer energies, its first attack is really strong early game, it can at least hit Klingklang decks, and it KO’s Landorus.

        • Piplup_isPimp  → poet

          Well, Kyurem is only in the deck for one reason, its first attack and possibly its second. However, how do you attack your next turn after you’ve blizzard burned? You would need a Kledeo w/float stone to do this which becomes two more cards needed to preform that “same amount of damage” turn after turn until your opponent KO’s your Kyurem (that is if they still have any bench left). Your made a mistake when you said Kyurem has so many more things going for it than Lugia, because its Lugia’s ability that seperates it from Kyurem (on top of 50+ HP). With Luiga you can have a pokemon setup with damage from early game and KO it, then all you would need to do is finish off another ex to winthe game (assuming the pokemon you KO’d were ex’s). Lugia would only require two plamsa energy, along with its dce and prism/blend, which can be easily obtanied through either colress machine or manual attachments.

        • poet larsen  → Piplup_isPimp

          The one thing though about the HP is that Kyurem gives only 1 prize up. If you KO two Kyurem, which is the same as taking out a Lugia prize wise, you have to go through 260 hp, compared to Lugia’s hp. Kyurem can repeat its attack in multiple different ways. 1) You can use scramble switch to a new Kyurem or just as a switch. 2) You can also just play switch. 3) You don’t have to continually attack with Kyurem, you have other attackers in the deck. 4) You can also use Keldeo float stone.

          You can also easily setup Kyurem just like Lugia. I would say that the reason that Kyurem is better is because it does the same amount of damage, but only gives up one prize.

        • Steve  → poet

          TDK with Lugia EX won today, and it was my only loss. But I think I misplayed, and his Lugia was a huge liability early game. The real difference was I didn’t have Keldeo out when N’d me to 1 card. I never drew out of it and I couldn’t get an attacker active. He cold have done the same attacks with Kyurem. But he did win!

  3. Beau LeBlond

    I am going to try kecleon at my local league today.

  4. Christopher David

    Glad to see another pokedad writing articles. I consider myself to be a competetive pokedad as well, but I’m still working on my skills. I appreciate this article, because I’ve found TDK to be a more challenging deck to learn than my Ray-eels deck.

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