Hey guys this is Pikkdogs with my first article on this site. I thought of this deck after a tournament this year. I ran a Porygon Z deck and I kept on losing during the first couple of turns. So in order to combat this I decided to run a deck with high-HP basic Pokemon. I also didn’t have much money, so that ruled out any Luxray GL deck. So this is what I came up with.
Decklist
Alakazam 4′s SP Toolbox
|
Pokemon-20 2 Alakazam 4 RR 1 Alakazam 4 LV.X RR 2 Gyarados G PL 1 Azelf LA 2 Baltoy GE 2 Claydol GE 1 Lucario GL RR 1 Golem 4 RR 1 Raichu GL RR 2 Unown G GE 2 Crobat G PL 1 Regigigas FB SV 1 Camerupt G SV 1 Drifblim FB SV |
Trainer/Supporters/Stadiums-27 3 Roseanne’s Research 3 Bebe’s Search 1 Luxury Ball 2 Cyrus’s Conspiracy 4 TGI Poke Turn 3 TGI Energy Gain 1 Expert Belt 1 Bench Shield 2 Warp Point 1 Moonlight Stadium 2 Snow Point Temple 1 Level Max 1 Flint’s Willpower 1 Pokemon Rescue 1 Night Maintenance |
Energy-13 5 Water Energy 4 SP Energy 2 Lightning Energy 1 Psychic Energy |
Deck Strategy / Analysis
This deck is all about taking a punch from the opponent and then moving the damage counters around. Alakazam 4 LV.X has a Poke-Power called “Damage Switch“, this lets you move as many damage counters as you want from one Pokemon SP to another Pokemon SP. So the strategy is to get a high HP Pokemon active, such as Gyarados G. Then establish Alakazam 4 LV.X on the bench. Gyrados G can deal 100 damage with his attack “Dwindling Wave”, while Alakazam can move all damage counters to another Pokemon SP. Then when the damage counters start to add up the player can transfer all damage counters to one Pokemon and use Poke Turn to pick up the Pokemon and get rid of all damage counters.
The hardest part about this deck is to establish Alakazam 4 LV.X on the bench. To make this easier, the player can use Moonlight Stadium and warp point to put the LV.X on Alakazam 4 and then retreat the Level x.
Besides Gyarados G, this deck can also hit for weakness. Lucario GL’s Poke-Body “Boundary Aura” makes every Pokemon’s weakness times two. Then depending on what deck the opponent is using, the user can switch Pokemon. Regigigas FB is a good counter for Flygon RR, while Camerupt G is a good counter for grass decks, and Raichu GL is a decent counter for Kingdra LA or Gyarados SF. Drifblim FB is a counter against decks that run Uxie LA, Azelf LA, or Mesprit LA. With Lucario Gl in play, Drifblim FB can knock out those three Pokemon in one hit. Drifblim also is useful late game, when he can reach a possible 160 HP with a Snow Point Temple and expert belt in play.
The trainers in this deck really make the deck playable. Bench Shield and Unown G really help protect the bench against cards like Flygon LV.X, Gengar SF, and Blastoise PL. Snow Point Temple helps Gyarados G and other active Pokemon survive more hits from the opposing Pokemon. The new card Expert Belt also raises the HP of a Pokemon. With Snow Point Temple and Expert Belt, Gyarados G becomes a 150 HP tank that can deal 120 damage each turn.
Match Ups
A deck is only as good as it’s match-ups. So lets look at how this deck stacks up against other popular decks.
Gyarados SF- 80/20 Alakazam 4
Depending on the techs that the Gyarados deck uses, this match-up should go in Alakazam’s favor. As long as Alakazam 4 LV.X gets on the bench in the first couple of turns, this match-up should be no problem. Gyarados can only attack for 90 HP, while Gyarados G has 110 HP even without Snow Point Temple and Expert Belt. It’s just a matter of moving damage counters and using Poke Turn.
Kingdra LA-80/20 Alakazam 4
This match-up is similar to the Gyarados match-up. As long as Alakazam 4 LV.X gets set up on the bench, Kingdra cannot do enough damage. Kingdra decks also don’t make use of pesky techs like Dusknoir Diamond and Peal, that can hurt this deck. Make sure to attach a Bench Shield to your Claydol, or else Claydol will eventually get Knocked Out. Late game Kingdra might be able to use “Aqua Stream” for a knockout, but you should be up enough prizes by this point.
Mother Gengar- 50/50
This matchup is hard to declare a winner. If this deck runs Gengar LV.X, Mother Gengar will win most of the time, but if they don’t, Gengar will have a hard time attacking. Make sure to attach an Unown G to your Alakazam 4 LV.X and Claydol. Gengar probably will pick up a Knock Out on your Claydol, but just make another one. The main obstacle is surviving a fainting spell. So make sure to use “Dwindling Wave” for 100 damage, and then use Crobat G’s “Flash Bite” next turn, so you wont have to worry about fainting spell. Just keep you hand clean of trainers and you should be all right.
Flygon/Machamp: 60/40 Alakazam 4 LV.X
This will be a tricky matchup, but you should win. You will probably go down a couple of prizes early because of Machamp’s “Takeout”. But get a Gyarados G active and attach an Unown G. After damage control is over and you got Alakazam 4 LV.X Benched with a bench shield and Gyarados G with an Unown G, things should pick up. Machamp will have a hard time attacking, so they will try Flygon. Now you must quickly load up a Regigigas Fb and make sure your bench is full. You should be able to make a comeback and knockout any Flygon with Regigigas FB and any Machamp with Drifblim FB.
Gengar/Machamp- 70/30 Gengar Machamp
On their own Gengar and Machamp were not a problem, but together this match will be tough. Mainly because you will stretch your supply of Unown G’s. If you have an Unown G on your active to protect against Machamp, there will always be a benched Pokemon open for Gengar to attack with “Shadow Room.” All you can do is try and stall, but this one is a tough matchup.
Flygon Lock- 90/10 Flygon
Yeah this Match-Up is going to be really hard for this deck. You can try to set up with a benched Alakazam 4 LV.X, and an active Regigigas FB, but Flygon will change that. A Flygon with memory berry will be able to call in Alakazam 4 LV.X and trap him in. Since he is no longer on the bench, bench shield will be useless and he will fall victim to “Extreme Attack”. Without Alakazam 4 LV.X. Its just a matter of time before your deck self destructs.
Power Lock Decks (Gardevoir and Gallade or Palkia G and Dialga G). 60/40 Power Lock.
Again this is an unfavorable matchup, but it can be won. It will be hard to survive without Poke-Powers, but you can try to fight through the power lock by using Poke Turns to clear the board of damage counters. The longer this game goes on, the better it is for you, eventually the Power Lock will run out and you can again use “Damage Switch” and “Cosmic Power”.
Infernape 4 LV.X/Luxray Gl LV.X- 60/40, “Luxape”
Now again you face a sort of Power Lock, but this time it is not as bad. You should be able to pass through all the Power Sprays by turn 3 or 4. Inferape 4 is a sitting duck to Gyarados G, while Golem 4 will help you with Luxray GL LV.X. The problem is that Luxray will use “Bright Look” to bring in your Alakazam 4 LV.X. But Luxray should not be able to knock out your Alakazam 4, so you can try to retreat him back to the bench. This will be a battle of the minds to see who can outsmart who, if you can get your Golem 4 against their Luxray GL, you should be able to win. But if you get stuck with attacking Infernape 4, and Luxray is able to join the battle when he wants, this may be a tough game for you. But it is a win-able match-up, so hopefully you can outsmart the other player.
So what do you guys think of this deck? It is weak to Flygon and Luxray GL, so that makes it hard to win. But as a secondary deck, it is fun and has lots of potential.
