Sabelock is a relatively new deck, it’s first major appearance was during States. Steven Silvestro and Aaron Curry even met in top 2 during Florida states and they were both playing Sabelock. The deck has many options, mainly it can donk and disrupt. It utilizes it’s main attackers evenly in order to steal easy knock outs early game in order to never let your opponent set up.
| Pokemon: 4 Sableye 2 Garchomp C 2 Garchomp C LV.X 2 Honchkrow G 1 Toxicroak G Promo 3 Crobat G 1 Ambipom G 1 Chatot G 1 Giratina (Let Loose) 2 Uxie 1 Azelf |
Trainer/Supporter/Stadium: 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy 3 Pokemon Collector 2 Cyrus’s Initiative 1 Judge 1 Aaron’s Collection 4 Poketurn 3 Energy Gain 3 Power Spray 2 SP Radar 4 Super Scoop Up 2 Expert Belt |
Energy: 2 Dark 1 Psychic 4 Special Dark 4 Double Colorless |
Sableye
Sableye is the ideal starter for the deck. With Sableye you can either donk with Sableye’s Overconfident attack against low HP basic pokemon, doing a total of 50 damage with a Special Darkness Energy attached or 40 with a basic dark. If donking isn’t an option you can use Sableye’s Impersonate attack, with this you will usually search for a Cyrus’s Initiative early game to drop 1 or 2 key cards out of your opponent’s hand.
Garchomp C LV.X
Garchomp C LV.X is your strongest attacker in the deck, for a Double Colorless and an Energy Gain you can do 80 damage to any of your opponents Pokemon by discarding 2 Energy attached to Garchomp. This attack can be extremely disruptive, you can one hit knock out your opponents Claydol or a Pokemon that is imperative for your opponents set up.
Honchkrow G
Honchkrow G is another sniper in your deck that can be extremely disruptive. Honchkrow G for a Dark and an Energy gain can put 20 damage on any of your opponents Pokemon, but if they already have any damage on them this attack does 40 damage to them instead. You can put the initial damage to be able to be hitting for 40 damage right away by playing a Crobat G and using Flash Bite. With the combination of Crobat G and Honchkrow G you can get cheap knock outs off your opponent’s benched Pokemon. This gives you another ability to knock out your opponent’s essential Pokemon. This can be used to knock out your opponent’s Baltoys before them become Claydols to eliminate their draw power.
Crobat G
The main use for Crobat G is to use his Poke-Power, Flash Bite. When you put Crobat G from your hand on to your bench you can use Flash Bite. Flash Bite allows you to place 1 damage counter anywhere on your opponents side of the field. You can abuse this Poke-Power quite frequently by picking Crobat G up with Poke Turns or Super Scoop Ups. Crobat G allows you to set up knock outs with Sableye, Garchomp C LV.X, and Honchkrow G. A less seen use for Crobat G is to use his attack Toxic Fang to poison your opponents active Pokemon for double poison damage. Overall, this isn’t a great attack, but it is your best counter to Donphan.
Giratina
In this deck the only use for Giratina is his Poke-Power, Let Loose. When you put Giratina from you your hand onto your bench you may use Let Loose. When you use Let Loose both players shuffle their hands into their deck and draw a new hand of 4 cards. This can be good when followed by using a Cyrus’s Initiative, to only live your opponent with 2-3 cards in their hand ideally. This can cripple any means they have of setting up and can be enough to win you a game. You would usually get a Cyrus’s Initiative following a Let Loose by using Sableye’s attack Impersonate.
Chatot G
Like Giratina, Chatot G is used purely for his disruption ability. When you place Chatot G from your hand onto your bench you can use his Poke-Power, Disrupting Spy. Disrupting Spy allows you to look at the top 4 cards of your opponents deck and rearrange them however you like, giving them bad top decks. This in combination with Giratina and Cyrus’s Initiative can give your opponent an extremely hard time setting up, giving you enough time to take some prizes.
Cyrus’s Initiative
Cyrus’s Initiative is a Supporter, which makes it searchable with Sableye’s Impersonate ability. Cyrus’s Initiative allows you to flip 2 coins. For each heads you may look at your opponents hand a put a card for find their on the bottom of your opponents deck. This can be used to remove any search card from your opponents hand, making them rely on top decking cards they need.
Things you could consider adding to this deck:
- A 4th Pokemon Collector for increased chances of drawing into one.
- A 4th Power Spray to increase the amount of your opponents powers you can stop
- Warp Points to switch your Pokemon that get pulled active by your opponents effects, especially Giratina because of his heavy retreat cost.
- Moonlight Stadium for the same reasons you would use Warp Point, switching your Pokemon out of the active position for free.
- Night Maintenance or Palmer’s Contribution for increased recovery.
- Adding a 1-1 Mismagius SF line as a Mewtwo counter. If you do this you should add a Bebe’s Search or a Pokemon Communication.
- Adding an Unown Q to give one of your Pokemon a 1 less retreat cost.
This deck has many options and is very versatile. In the current meta game I believe it can do very well. It will see play all throughout Battle Roads, Nationals, and even Worlds.
