Chrome Dome: The Other Magnezone Deck

Hello everyone.  Cabd here back from my lurking antics, ready to highlight a deck that seems to not have gotten much attention here at SixPrizes, that is, Magnezone/Eelektrik.

Those of you that played last season will probably remember the speed in which Magnezone Prime / Regirock LA picked up steam late last format.  The idea of that deck, as well as this new one, is to use Magnezone Prime to OHKO everything, while accelerating energy using the bench-sitters.

The List

Pokemon – 19 4 Magnemite TM 2 Magneton TM 3 Magnezone Prime 3 Tynamo NVI 38 3 Eelektrik NVI 2 Thundurus EPO 1 Cleffa HS/CL 1 Pachirisu CL

Trainers – 28 4 Pokemon Collector 4 Sage’s Training 3 N 2 Professor Oak’s New Theory   4 Pokemon Communication 4 Junk Arm 3 Rare Candy 2 Switch 2 Pokemon Catcher

Energy – 13 13 Lightning

This deck is rather straightforward, but I’ll explain it all the same.  In the early game, the focus should be on powering up Thundurus to hit for 80 and start getting lightning energies into the discard pile.  At the same time, you should be setting up at least two Eelektrik, and begin accelerating energy to the benched attacker, and your big hitter: Magnezone.

Magnezone comes in once you’re ready and just starts going to town, OHKO-ing everything in sight.  Think of this deck as a “Reverse Tyram” of sorts; in that you use a Stage 1 Energy acceleration engine and a mix of Stage 2 and Basic attackers.

Pokemon

Magnezone

The “Chrome Dome” himself.  Going in with a beastly 140 HP, he brings multiple roles to this deck.  He serves as attacker, draw engine, and deck-namer all in one!  I run a 4-2-3 line (with 3 Candy) for a few reasons.  Firstly, four Magnemite is just necessary in a format defined by Pokemon Catcher.  That gives you the highest possible opportunity to get your attacking lines out and ready to roll.

I run two Magneton because of where I live.  California loves Trainer Lock variants, so having the ability to manually evolve twice is worth the spot in my deck.  Lastly, there’s the three Magnezone.  Three is more than enough, because with 140 HP, anything that is able to consistently OHKO three of them can easily nab the fourth as well.

Eelektrik

The name kind of says it all.  This guy, a Stage 1 Pokemon, is very similar to Typhlosion Prime.  The trade-off is being easier to evolve to, in exchange for not being able to attach to the active.  His attack is garbage, so don’t bother attacking with it unless you absolutely have to.  Astute players will note that I run the 40 HP basic, and not the 30 HP one, even though the smaller one has free retreat.  I do so for two reasons.

Firstly, in a format where Kyurem exists, the extra turn is needed.  Secondly, retreating is not a huge issue for us, as energy in the discard is a good thing for this deck.  Surviving the random Tyrogue donk attempt is always helpful as well.  All things aside, 3-3 is a nice, healthy number, as getting one or two of these guys running is vital to your deck’s performance.

Thundurus

This guy is Tornadus’ overlooked cousin.  And he only has a role in a few decks.  This is one of those decks.  In the early game, this guy serves as a way to get cheap quick damage.  He also serves to put lightning energy into your discard pile in an efficient manner.  Some people prefer Zekrom here, but Zekrom is a bit slower to get the energy discarded.  I only run two of him, because after about the fourth or fifth turn, he’s no longer needed.

Pachirisu

By far one of the most expensive cards in our format, he’s great for getting a quick 100 damage in play for Magnezone’s attack, and can donk in some cases.  Only one is needed, and if you can’t afford him; don’t worry, he’s not too important.

Cleffa

We only run one, but having a “consistency crutch” is just too good to pass up.  This deck can also justify playing Manaphy UL here, as the Energy loss is not such a big deal.  It’s personal taste, really.  The idea, of course, is to replace your stale hand with a fresh new one.

Trainers/Supporters

4 Pokemon Collection isn’t really an option; it’s a requirement.  Whiffing Collector is the same as sealing a loss.  Being able to grab three Basics is just too powerful to pass up, and extra copies of this card make great junk arm fodder in the mid and late game.

N finds his way into this deck for a few reasons.  In the early game, he’s simply a PONT.  In the late game, however, you can pair him with magnezone to make him read “Your opponent shuffles in and draws the same as the prizes they have left.  Give yourself a fresh new hand of six cards.”  It’s that good.  I could even see playing more of these and no PONT.  For now, 3 of him is perfect.

Sage’s Training works in this deck for the same reason it works in Tyram.  Discarding Energy while providing draw power that can aim for a specific card (mostly candy) is slick.  It deserves the 4 copy count that I run it in.

Rounding out our Supporters is Professor Oak’s New Theory (PONT).  I run only two of these, and they’re more of a preference call.  Some players may prefer to use Juniper or Engineer’s Adjustments for these two slots.  The reason I went with PONT is that when I play Magnezone variants, I always find myself dangerously close to decking out if I run too much discard-draw.

Rare Candy is played as a three-of.  Four is too many, two is not enough, three is just right.  Since we have two Magneton, Candy is not always a desperate need, but it sure doesn’t hurt to draw into.

We play four Pokemon Communication for the same reason we play four Pokemon Collector.  It’s not really an option for any setup-based deck.  It allows you to get what you need when you need it.  Very useful.

We play the maximum count of four Junk Arm for several reasons.  Junk arm allows us to get back all of our Trainers, but it also serves other, more vital, roles.  In this deck, it gets Lightning Energy into the discard pile quickly.  Getting Energy in there is very important, as energy sitting in our hand is rather useless.  It also frees our hand size up for a larger Magnetic Draw use.

Switch is played with two copies, and for good reason.  We don’t want Energy-less Magnezones sitting up front, nor do we want an Eelektrik stuck up there.  Everything else can manually retreat just fine; burning Energy to the discard is fine by us.

Pokemon Catcher only deserves two copies in this list.  Why?  Well, when you can KO anything you want, main attackers serve just fine.  Two is sufficient to cripple opposing Energy accelerators, like Typhlosion Prime and Emboar.  With our four Junk Arm; getting a third or fourth Catcher isn’t too much of an issue, either.

Energy 

We only run basic Lightning Energy.  It’s mobile in this deck, bouncing from the discard to the board and back, and then finally to the Lost Zone.  13 is a high count, but that gives us a lot of room to play with, as far as Lost Burn goes.

Match-ups

I played ten matches using this deck against each of these lists, alternating which deck goes first.  The lists used to test against were the most recent copies of the UG lists, which can be found on the UG forums.  This was done to diminish anyone who might claim that a bad list was tested against.  I honestly advise anyone putting matchups in their articles to do the same number of matches, minimum.  Here’s my scale:

0W: Autoloss

1W: Autoloss

2W: Highly Unfavourable

3W: Unfavourable

4W: Slightly Unfavourable

5W: Even

6W: Slightly Favourable

7W: Favourable

8W: Highly Favourable

9W: Autowin

10W: Autowin

Vs. Gothitelle/Reuniclus: 8W, 2L

This matchup is highly favourable, no doubt about it.  Both losses were due to lone Basic starts with no Supporters for several turns.  Magnezone plows through Gothitelle like nobody’s business.  Add in the second Magneton designed to combat this sort of lock, and you’ve got a silver, Goth-slaying machine in your hands.

Vs. The Truth (Donphan Variant): 3W, 7L

Donphan + Trainer Lock –> We cry a bit inside.  It’s winnable if they only play one Donphan, but if both Donphan and the dragons hit the board, you’re a goner.

Vs. Magnezone/Yanmega: 6W, 4L

This match is a bit in your favour, but not much.  It really comes down to a Magnezone war, as your Thundurus makes Yanmega cry.  If they manage to take out your Tynamo early game, you’re in hot water, so bench two at a time.  You accelerate energy, they don’t.

Vs. Typhlosion/Reshiram: 4W, 6L

This is slightly unfavourable.  If you manage to take out all the Typhlosion, you win.  Otherwise, trying to take down multiple Reshiram will end you.  It’s just too much HP, you cannot afford to go after their dragons.  Smart opponents will catcher up and disrupt your Eels before you can get the Typhlosions.

Vs. Zekrom/Tornadus: 5W, 5L

This is a fairly even matchup.  Your Magnezone can withstand a Bolt Strike, so as long as you survive the early game, they’ll run out of resources well before you do.  Of course, the very nature of this deck is to deny you the late-game.  They manage to lock you out of acceleration, you lose.  Simple as that.

Techs

This deck, as it is a mix of various Lightning cards, has plenty of flexibility for techs.  I’ll go over the more notable ones, but feel free to try anything in here, so long as it can use lightning energy, have a blast with it.

First up is Zekrom BLW.  He can take the place of Thundurus as your opening attacker.  Putting him in means less Energy in the discard early game, but higher HP, and the advantage to nearly auto-win Durant variants.  He’s definitely a solid option.

Secondly, we have Lanturn Prime.  Lanturn serves as a “hard counter” to Donphan variants, in that you can trade a stage one for a stage one, except you have energy acceleration.  It’s another solid option, but if you go this route, play at least 2-2; 1-1 simply won’t cut it.

Third, there’s the option of running Tornadus EPO.  He serves as a softer Donphan counter that can also help move your energy around as the need arises.  He’s less useful than in other electric variants, however, because we do not run Double Colorless Energy.

And speaking of energy, feel free to test out both Double Colorless Energy (big if you mix in Zekrom or Lanturn) and Rescue Energy.  Both can serve vital roles.

If you find yourself hitting with your “big Basic” of choice often, you might even consider Eviolite.  Of course, one should only run one or two at most.  Remember that Junk Arm can bring back Pokemon Tools.  In the same vein, one can run Rocky Helmet, also from Noble Victories, to force your opponent into taking damage just for hitting you.  As far as this deck goes, Rocky Helmet on your pokemon turns an opposing Donphan into a three energy Lost Burn instead of four.  That’s a very important change.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today.  Once I trade for the few cards I still need, I’ll be recording matches using this list on TCGO.  I’ll place links to them in the comments, or have a mod edit them into the front page.  In the meantime, feel free to check out other recorded matches I’ve done.

~Zackary “Cabd” Ayello (cabd@sixprizes.com)