Start Your Dynamotors!

Intro

Hello SixPrizes I’m Max Douglas and I’m here again to write about my favourite form of energy acceleration in the format: Eelektrik NVI. I first started using Eelektrik with Zekrom BLW, Thundurus EPO, and Tornadus EPO after reading an article on The Deck Out. I made the deck on Redshark and played a couple rounds and was convinced I found the deck I’d play at Cities.

I did play the deck at my first City tournament and got second place with it. The entire day the deck gave me good, consistent hands (except in top cut where I got a couple dead starts, but it was best of three so I could come back from those losses). Despite this I never played the deck after the tournament and experimented with other stuff for the rest of 2011. I also decided to name the deck “Club Zekrom” (picture the genies as bouncers and Eelektrik as a DJ, it works).

For my second City tournament I played Magnezone/Eelektrik, or as I like to call it “Ragnorok.” Again I made the list a week before the tournament and got used to the changes brought about by the Magnezone line. The deck wasn’t quite as consistent as Club Zekrom, but the power Magnezone brought was well worth it.

My games all felt tense as getting a Magnezone out would make or break watch game, however my deck prevailed for me (double Candying into two Magnezone the turn before my opponent can set up Trainer lock is priceless). I ended up coming second again and I took another break from Ragnorok, however this time I knew I’d return.

Why I’m Here

Enter nEXt Destinies, and the return of the Pokemon EX. I never played during the first EX era so I don’t have much experience with the concept, however I know if they give up two prizes they must either be good cards or binder fodder.

All of the EX (bar Shaymin EX) have high energy costs (or in the case of Mewtwo EX require high amounts of energy to deal massive damage). This means if you use Pokemon EX you will likely need some energy acceleration. This brings me to the point of this article, my energy accelerator of choice; Eelektrik.

Eelektrik is currently being used with Magnezone, Zekrom, Zekrom EX, Mewtwo EX, and Thundurus. There are other cards that can pair with it, but these are the most common. In the next format we will have EX based decks, non-EX based decks, and decks that use EX and non-EX attackers.

EX based decks will have a lot of power, but each EX needs to do the work of two Pokemon to be worth it. Non-EX decks will rely on getting two prizes for each EX, and mixed decks will balance the two strategies. Eelektrik can fit the needs of all three play-styles, and now I’ll present three different Eel decks that will be strong contenders in the new format.

*Note for each of these lists which Tynamo you use is up to personal preference. If you know your opponents will be playing cards like Tyrogue HS, Kyurem NVI, Chandelure NVI, or either player uses Skyarrow Bridge, you will want the 40 HP Tynamo. Otherwise you may prefer the 30 HP Tynamo for that sweet free retreat.

Club Zekrom

The first is Club Zekrom EX. This deck aims to get 4+ Lightning Energy in the discard and 2-3 Eels set up so Zekroms can be dropped and charged in a turn. Here is my current list for CZEX:

Pokemon – 14 3 Zekrom EX 4 Tynamo NVI 4 Eelektrik NVI 2 Smeargle UD 1 Zekrom BLW

Trainers – 34 4 Pokemon Collector 4 Professor Juniper 4 Sage’s Training 2 PONT   4 Junk Arm 3 Pokemon Catcher 3 Switch 2 Level Ball 2 Eviolite 2 Pokegear 3.0 1 Super Rod   3 Skyarrow Bridge

Energy – 12 9 Lightning 3 Double Colorless

This is the simplest of the three decks, but is easy to set up and can become dangerous quickly. I maxed out the Eel line as you want three up ASAP and you also want the ability to replace them. Zekrom EX is your main attacker here. After each Strong Volt you should be left with two energy attached. On your next turn you will either attach a DCE to allow for another attack or Dynamotor energy to a benched Zekrom and retreat to attack again.

Smeargle can be risky or whiff a Supporter, but he can also speed up the deck by allowing you to use two Supporters a turn, and he also has a free retreat when SAB is in play so you can bring it out when a Zekrom goes down, charge a new one, use a Supporter from their hand, and then retreat and attack. The single Zekrom BLW is here for Durant and times when an opposing EX is left with half its health left.

The Supporters are all fairly aggressive, and attempt to go through your deck quickly to get everything you need. This can be bad against Durant, but against that deck you should just try to manually attach to a Zekrom and hope they don’t get good flips on Crushing Hammer.

The Items and Stadiums are keep at high counts to allow you to get them quickly and over and over again.

The energy is kept simple; 9 Lightning lets you discard them quickly and frequently, and 3 DCE to help power Zekrom EX’s Strong Volt.

I’d like to add 1-2 more Zekrom BW, as this deck doesn’t have a way to OHKO opposing EX so I’d like to only risk a Zekrom that gives 1 prize while preparing for a 2HKO. The extra Zekrom would also help against Durant.

Overall I like the deck, but it could benefit from a stronger game plan against Durant (you can never have a good enough game plan against Durant short of 4 Heatmor form Dark Rush + 56 energy) and Pokemon EX.

Ragnorok

The next deck is Ragnorok, or Thunder-dome/Magneel/EelZone for the boring people. This deck uses Magnezone as the main attacker and draw engine all in one. Here is my current list for Ragnorok:

Pokemon – 18 3 Magnemite TM 1 Magneton TM 3 Magnezone Prime 4 Tynamo NVI 3 Eelektrik NVI 1 Zekrom EX 1 Zekrom BLW 2 Smeargle UD

Trainers – 28 4 Pokemon Collector 3 N 3 Sage’s Training 2 Twins   4 Junk Arm 4 Rare Candy 3 Pokemon Communication 2 Pokemon Catcher 2 Switch 1 Super Rod

Energy – 14 12 Lightning 2 Double Colorless

This is my favourite of the three decks; the deck has answers to most decks between the three main attackers. The problem with this deck is that there is so much to cram into a Magnezone deck that I never feel I have enough of some things.

I used to use 4-2-3 Magnezone, but he takes up a lot of space this way (yes two extra cards is a lot of space in this deck), so I cut the line down and it’s been fine for me. The forth Magnemite is only vital when two are prized and I see a decline in Item locking making the second Magneton less desirable. I use 4-3 Eelektrik because Eels are much harder to pick off then Magnezone and you need two out most of the time.

I have one of each Zekrom here; Zekrom BLW is used against Durant and the times when 120 is enough to take a prize letting my save energy from Magnezone or keep Zekrom EX out of harms way. Zekrom EX is for non-EX attackers/supporters with the 130-150 barrier.

Against a deck like Six Corners you will run out of energy trying to Lost Burn though everything and repeatedly getting 3 energy a turn can be exhausting on your resources. In these times Zekrom EX can take prizes without permanently losing energy (except for DCE, but losing one energy for 150 is much better than what Magnezone can do). Smeargle is here to help set up faster. With decks getting strong attacks going T1-T2 you need to keep up.

The Supporters are more conservative then the last list. Sage’s returns because there is no better way to fish out the one card you are missing to go into Magnezone. N is here to disrupt the opponent and potentially screw them out of a hand late game, and because of Magnezone you always get six cards. Twins is here because you will fall behind at the start, and Twins into Magnezone and a new hand is just great when you’re down a prize or two.

The Items are based on getting a quick Magnezone and having Catcher / Switch all game. I’d like to add a third Catcher / Switch, but space constraints prohibit this. At least you have 4 Junk Arm to get stuff back.

Energy lines are similar to the last list, but I included more and increased the focus on Lightning as they are recyclable with Eelektrik. An important note about DCE is that you should never leave one on board during your opponent’s turn in case they run Lost Remover; either discard it with Strong Volt or Lost Burn it (unless the opponent item locks of course).

In the future I will add a second Zekrom EX (once I get one that is) and maybe trade a Lightning for a DCE.

Eel Tech

The final list is a more experimental one. The meta has similar decks, but I’ve seen no hype or even acknowledgement for this one. This deck is called “Eel Tech.” This list is very rough as what you play in it will depend on your meta which no one can truly predict right now. Without further ado, here is Eel Tech:

Pokemon – 13-18 3 Tynamo NVI 3 Eelektrik NVI 3-5 [Lightning Attackers] (Thundurus EPO, Zekrom BLW, Zekrom EX) 4-7 Techs

Trainers – 32 4 Pokemon Collector 10 [Draw Supporters]   3 Junk Arm 3 Pokemon Catcher 2 Switch 2 Level Ball 2 Eviolite 2 Pokegear 3.0 1 Super Rod   3 Skyarrow Bridge

Energy – 9-15 4-7 Lightning 4 Prism 1-4 Rainbow

As you can see this is more of a concept than a list; this is because I haven’t made a list yet and won’t until we have an established meta.

The idea is that there are multiple Basic Pokemon that have strong attacks costing 1-2 Colorless + 1 Rainbow / Prism, so this deck uses Eels to provide the Colorless cost while using the Prism / Rainbow for the other part. I’ll go over a list of Lightning types and techs for the deck:

Lightning

Thundurus EPO: This genie is here to get the Lighting energy out of the deck. As long as you open with one of any energy you can pull 2-3 Lighting out of the deck and that should be enough. He can also take cheap prizes very quickly.

Zekrom BLW: This Digimon returns once again to strike foes with his bolts. Not much to say other than he is a strong choice.

Zekrom EX: This guy represents a generic 150 attacker with amazing HP. If you use this Digimon then I’d advise cutting some Rainbow for some DCE.

Techs

Cobalion NVI: The metal pony can murder any Kyurem giving you trouble and with two Prism / Rainbow you can use his awesome second attack to hinder almost every deck out there.

Terrakion NVI: The fighting pony is used to revenge kill Pokemon with Fighting Weakness, which is a lot (Lightning, Dark, Normal). Seriously, you should be running two of this guy.

Absol Prime: Used to kill Chandelure, he can also be a good starter for softening up opponents.

Mew Prime: See Off anything and have a cheap kill on Mewtwo EX. This is huge. He also works great with Absol.

Victini NVI 15: Use this guy if Cobalion and Durant are big in your area and you aren’t confident against them.

Crygonal NVI 34: This guy was made to kill Donphan Prime, and by extension Landorus NVI. He also donked a Cyndaquil in game one of the final match at my first cities.

Basculin EPO 24: Puts the hurt on Fire types. He can’t kill Reshiram EX in a single hit, but Reshiram EX can help out with his recoil.

Tornadus EPO / Bouffalant BLW 91: These two can beat the almighty Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend.

Shaymin EX: The little EX that could can be a last resort when your opponent only has one prize left. You may wish to include some N in the deck to make him even more devastating.

So there you have it, with all these mighty Pokemon you should be able to beat any foe right? Well maybe, but space will be tight if you use to many techs, I’d try to find the 2-3 that help with your worst matches and run 1-3 of each, and make sure to include one Shaymin EX, late game his energy-damage ratio is unmatched.

Conclusion

I hope I’ve provided plenty of inspiration for you to make your own Eel based decks, be it a Zekrom focus, Magnezone focus or a techie lack of focus. If you have constructive criticism for my lists I’d love to hear it.