3 in 1 Article! Speed Decks: Zektron and Cinccino! (With Some History ‘Bout ME!)

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG ARTICLE. DON’T READ IF YOU ARE BUSY AND/OR YOU NEED TO BE SOMEWHERE IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR OR SO. THANK YOU.

I didn’t want to write two or three separate articles so I’ve jammed it all into one so that you, the reader, will have an awesome read.

Without further ado…

It all started with… a YouTube user called PlayingWithMahWii. He made a video on the Pokemon TCG game on the Gameboy Color.

At that time, I was watching his videos like crazy, waiting every day for his uploads, all that kind of stuff, I was just really wanting to see his videos because he was funny and a cool guy.

So, eventually, I save up some money. I go to my local Pre-Played (it’s a store, I think its only in WI) and get the game because it looked fun. Instantly, I fell in love with it. I played it non-stop for the next two months, getting up to the 3rd Gym Leader on the very first day I played it.

Two months later, I:

1. Got every single card in the game’s code (except the ones you can only get with the link cable).
2. Had 24 Double Colorless Energy.
3. Had 10 of every Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard in the game.
4. Built a (what I thought to be) the BDIF in the video game which was Blastoise.
5. Got pretty bored of the game.

Yeah, I was hooked onto it. Eventually I got ideas of making a machine that would let me transform the cards in the game into physical cards in real life but I scrapped that idea five minutes later. (I still play the game, but I can only play it on my Gameboy Advance SP which I lost the charger to. If anyone has one, I am willing to take it!)

Basically, after a few weeks, I stopped playing it. When my family and I went to a Toys R Us to buy my brother something, some cards caught my eye. First off, there was the Latias Promo and the Latios Promo (the HGSS ones) which were obviously made for each other. It had a cool effect so I asked my dad to buy it. I eventually talked him into it saying that I want to join a Pokemon Organized Play thing (it was POP at the time) and it will be cool.

So, I opened it, and I got a Metagross holo from I think Unleashed. The Psychic one with the Poke-Body. I thought it was cool so I wanted to buy even more booster packs to try and get one more.

Then, I saw an article on the internet saying how awesome the combo with Feraligatr Prime and Blastoise PL was so there was my deck idea. I thought up of it with a 2-2-2 Metagross line with the Poke-Body to retreat the Blastoise and Feraligatr along with the Latias and Latios promo to heal.

By that time, we went to Canada for the summer and it was getting close to my birthday. On my birthday, I got $100 in Canadian from my aunt and uncle there. I immediately spent some on theme decks with the energy I needed (Water and Psychic for the Metagross) and I got a Feraligatr tin with some HGSS and Unleashed packs AND an Arceus collection box and still had money left over.

So, we went home after a great vacation and I got the remaining cards I needed from another Feraligatr tin… and from that tin I got my first Prime ever. Typhlosion Prime. I, however, disregarded it and just put it into my tin (I had no binder at the time so I put all my cards in a tin).

Then, I bought a HGSS Trainer Kit which, I didn’t know at the time, was awesome because it had two Pokemon Collector and Pokemon Communication which were pretty expensive as singles.

A week later, I found a Pokemon League near me which was Pegasus Games. There, I started to play competitively. I met Derrick (HypnosProjectHQ) and Nichole for the first time and I traded them for some cards.

There, I also met Steven Reich (the creator of Pokepress) and I saw him earlier in the summer at the video game part of the National Championships. I didn’t know who he was at the time.

I got into my first battle and I lost horribly. I also got beaten over and over in my games and only won once. Eventually, I scrapped my deck idea and went online to find one. There, I met JWittz, aka Josh Wittenkeller. He was playing SableLock and I decided to play it.

So, I went to stop2shop.com (a card website that JWittz was advertising) and spent my remaining money for the cards I needed.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get Sableye, but I could get some stuff like parts of the SP Engine and a 2-2 Garchomp C LV.X line. I also traded for an Entei & Raikou Legend and tried to trade for the rest of the SP engine I was missing but I couldn’t.

By that time, Fall BR’s were starting so I went to one near me. There, I met Troy Lesky, a really great guy and tournament organizer. I was playing a weird SP variant without a complete SP Engine. However, I won the first two rounds but in the last two, I faced two Machamp variants. The first game went to the last prize (it was against Killian H. for people who want to know) and the second game just sucked.

I did some reading online before the tournament as well as watched JWittz’s videos for advice so I was pretty prepared.

Later in the season, after several big trades and buyings of booster boxes and packs, there was Cities.

By that time, I had sorta scrapped SP (until I finished my set of the SP Engine) and built Jumpluff. However, Gyarados got big. And I faced it three times in a row. I failed miserably at that tournament.

Next, there was States. After a long break from tournaments, I got so many cards that it wasn’t even funny. I had four Donphan Primes, all that kind of good stuff.

I went 4-2 at that tournament and got dropped at 10th from Top Cutting.

Next, there was Regionals. I won. Woo!!!

Then, Spring BR’s. Went 1-3 at the first one (friggin LostGar, why did I run you!) and won the next one. I am planning to go to another one.

And… back to the present.

Whew. And that, I don’t think, is even HALF of the article.

Anyway, I wanted to build some speed decks and I actually built them pretty good.

Cinccino

Here is Cinccino, I’ll break down the cards afterwards. I don’t have all of the cards I need (I have five decks), but it still runs really, really good. Anyway, here it is:

Pokemon – 13  4 Minccino BW 4 Cinccino BW 2 Pichu HS 1 Plusle UL 2 Minun UL

Trainers – 38  4 Pokemon Communication 4 Pokemon Reversal 4 PlusPower 3 Dual Ball 4 Junk Arm 3 Professor Elm’s Training Method 2 Pokemon Collector 3 Professor Oak’s New Theory 3 Copycat 2 Professor Juniper 4 Sage’s Training 2 Interviewer’s Questions

Energy – 9  4 Double Colorless 2 Rescue 2 Rainbow 1 Lightning

Yeah, the Energy line is a bit weird but I’ll explain later. This deck almost always decks itself out so it is REALLY fast, especially without Magnezone Prime.

Breakdown:

4-4 Cinccino Line - Seriously, do I have to explain? It’s for consistency and it is the main Pokemon in the deck. Without it, this wouldn’t be Cinccino.

2 Pichu - Playground is basically a 100 damage “Do the Wave.” It is also a staller since the attack says each player MAY search your deck for as many basic Pokemon as you want. It helps the opponent set up too but it doesn’t activate Poke-Powers that are activated when the Pokemon is put on the bench to your hand.

I only run two since I run three other starters and I run three Dual Ball and two Pokemon Collector.

1 Plusle & 2 Minun - This is sorta why I have the Rainbow and Electric Energy in the deck. One of Minun’s attacks does 30 for one Lightning Energy if Plusle is on the bench which is sorta useful for KO’ing Baby Pokemon and Vullaby (if Mandibuzz gets big next format).

They also are good to set up, Minun has “Call for Family” to search for two Basics and put it onto your bench and Plusle has “Collect” to draw two cards which speed up the deck.

Pokemon Communication - It’s a staple. It’s going to be a staple in most likely all of the decks next format.

Pokemon Reversal - I will replace these with Pokemon Catcher if it comes out. This lets me KO key Pokemon and get cheap KO’s on weak Pokemon when I get heads. It is flippy, but it is useful.

PlusPower - This lets me KO Pokemon that are 10 or 20 away from being OHKO’ed (ex. Yanmega Prime if it gets big with a full bench and Zekrom revenge kill after it Bolt Strikes). I could pur it down to two but I think four is good.

Dual Ball - I have this since it speeds up the deck, the deck has a good amount of Basics but not too much, and Pokemon Collector somewhat slows this deck down, that is why I run two of the Collector. This card is flippy, but I like it.

Junk Arm - I think that this will also be a staple next format as it lets you get important Trainers from the discard pile. It is good for re using Plus Powers too.

Prof. Elm’s Training Method - This lets me get the Cinccinos out. I like this because when I don’t have a Pokemon with Pokemon Communication or when I don’t have Pokemon Communication, this is in my hand. This speeds up the swarming of Cinccinos.

Pokemon Collector - I only run two because I run Dual Ball and Pichu. It lets you get three Basics out of your deck. What more do you want me to say?

Professor Oak’s New Theory (PONT) - Used to refresh my hand. Also an alternative to Professor Juniper.

Copycat - See PONT.

Professor Juniper - Speeds up the deck tremendously.

Sage’s Training - This makes the deck even faster since it allows me to dig deeper into it as well as thinning the deck out and getting cards that I need. I love this card.

Interviewer’s Questions - Used for getting out the DCE. And Rescue Energy.

Okay, so, basically, you just swarm with Cinccino as well as get all sixprizes.com in six turns when you set up.

Zektron

Now, here is Zekrom Donk. Or, as I call it, Zektron. One thing I have learned; you don’t need four Pachirisu, but you need two Shaymin.

Here is the list:

Pokemon – 15  4 Zekrom BW 3 Pachirisu CL 2 Shaymin UL 2 Yanma TM 2 Yanmega Prime TM 2 Cleffa HS/CL

Trainers – 30  3 Junk Arm 4 Super Scoop Up 3 Dual Ball 4 Pokemon Communication 2 Energy Retrieval 1 Revive 1 PlusPower 1 Pokemon Collector 2 Professor Juniper 2 Seeker 4 Copycat 3 Interviewer’s Questions

Energy – 15  13 Lightning‘ 2 Rescue

Breakdown:

Zekrom - This is the main basis of this deck and I run four because I think that it is the most consistent.

Pachirisu - I only run three because I found out that I didn’t need the fourth one. This is used for “Self Generation” to attach two Lightning Energy from my hand to it then…

Shaymin - “Celebrational Wind” the Energy to Zekrom to power it up in one turn. This is what Shaymin is for.

2-2 Yanmega Prime - This is used to counter Donphan, but I feel that there is a better one. However, this one works for me so far.

Cleffa - It is used as a wall and a hand refresher.

Junk Arm - Do I really need to explain?

Super Scoop Up - Used to pick up damaged Zekroms as well as Pachirisus and Shaymins.

Dual Ball - This is more useful than Pokemon Collector in most scenarios but not all. This is a speed deck so that is why I run it.

Pokemon Communication - It’s a staple.

Energy Retrieval - This recovers Energy when you need it.

Revive - This is basically your 5th Zekrom. It takes a Basic Pokemon from your discard and put it onto your bench and that is really good.

PlusPower - To KO those pesky 130 HP Pokemon. (Yes, you mirror match and Reshiram!)

Pokemon Collector - Just so. It’s a staple after all and the deck runs pretty fast with it. I always think that you should run at least one Collector, even if you use Dual Ball.

Professor Juniper - See Professor Juniper in the Cinccino section.

Seeker - This is used to pick up Pachirisus and Shaymins.

Copycat - I run this as a hand refresher as well as a way to activate Yanmega Prime’s “Insight” Poke-Body.

Interviewer’s Questions - Used to get Energy.

Lightning - Don’t make me explain this.

Rescue Energy - This is used to get Zekroms back when it is KO’ed.

Wow, that was a long article. Thanks for reading! :D