The big bad wolf... errr... pig.
Hey everyone, I haven’t written an article in a while… but here I am! Going to cover a bunch of topics like my cohorts did, with the focus of my article being on giving you guys a bunch of random lists and decks that I’ve been messing around with, and why I think they can compete in this format. I don’t like filler content much, so let’s go!
With this new format, there is going to a lot of uncertainty going into Nationals as to what the metagame is going to look like. Usually we can take educated guesses based on States, Regionals, and Battle Roads, but (hopefully) not this year.
It’s already been talked about a bunch that it seems like Emboar is going to be the deck to beat. Whether with Magnezone, Ninetales, Shuckle, or what have you, the deck is a beast. You’ll see variations with Typhlosion maybe, but the things that beat Emboar will beat Typhlosion as well.
But what are some of the other decks you can be expecting once July hits? Donphan/Machamp has been talked about. Lostgar has been talked about. Zekrom has been talked about. Beyond those, though, there hasn’t been much discussion on other decks.
My fellow writers have (and will in the future) be covering these aforementioned decks, but I would like to touch on some of the weird stuff that you’re going to see at Nationals, but that doesn’t get much attention.
All are pretty good decks in their own right, but most seem to be lacking that “something” to push them over the top, although I do think most of them have potential to become great, or at least possibly better than the four decks above. Let’s check ‘em out:
Cinccino
| Pokemon – 16 4 Minccino BW 4 Cinccino BW 2 Zorua BW 2 Zoroark BW 1 Vulpix HS/CL 1 Ninetales HS/CL 2 Cleffa HS/CL |
Trainers – 30 4 Professor Juniper 2 Professor Oak’s New Theory 4 Pokémon Communication 3 Dual Ball 2 Pokémon Collector 2 Energy Retrieval 1 Revive 4 Pokémon Reversal 4 PlusPower 4 Junk Arm |
Energy – 14 8 Fire 4 Double Colorless 2 Rescue |
Alright, so I saw a lot of people talking about this guy when Catcher (Gust of Wind) was still speculated to be in the set, but since then not much love for this guy. And there’s some good reason too: it doesn’t hit for enough damage.
It’s really hard to hit that 130 vs the likes of Reshiram and Zekrom, and against other possible decks out there like Samurott (which we’ll talk about later) and Serperior, you are 2HKOing.
However, I’ve found that the speed of this guy can really offset this later disadvantage, as many games one of (our both) of the decks are sitting behind Cleffa for a number of turns before going on the attack.
Though obviously less potent than Catcher, Reversal still allows for early pressure on the opponent and making them question what they should or shouldn’t put on their bench.
Pokemon are kind of interesting. 4-4 Cinccino is obvious, it’s your main attacker and you want to swarm that guy. 2-2 Zoroark is used mostly for Reshiram, Zekrom, and RDL. It lets you keep up the prize exchange against Emboar more easily, without having to drop 3 PlusPowers with Cinccino (though you do have to do this once a game usually, I’ve found).
The 1-1 Ninetales is to supplement the draw and help with “swarm” aspect of the deck. I would really like a 2-2 line to add some more consistency, but room is tight right now. 2 Cleffa I think is an appropriate number, but if I can cut another slot, I would seriously considering adding the extra Ninetales line over the Cleffa and that.
Cleffa is just a crutch, and used less in this deck than many other decks in this format, as this deck aims to take advantage of the heavy Cleffa uses in other decks.
