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Pokemon TCG Battle Roads Autumn 2009 Metagame Expectations

by Pablo on September 18, 2009 at 8 AM View Comments  157 views

Pokemon Trading Card Game Autumn Battle Roads LogoThe SixPrizes.com team have analyzed so far a lot of the Pokemon Trading Card Game decks that were seen between the two major events of the year, Nationals and Worlds, alongside new decks from the Supreme Victors set. These decks include:

Flygon Lock

Palkia Lock

Luxray GL / Honchkrow G

Gyarados

Machamp / Gengar

Flygon / Machamp

Luxray GL / Infernape 4

Kingdra

Beedrill / Luxray GL

Blaziken FB

Now that the different decks intricacies have been analyzed and discussed, we should consider which decks have the most expected popularity and thus pose the biggest threat.  I will now list them in order of what I consider will be the most popular decks.

#1 Blaziken FB – New cards are always hyped, and Blaziken FB is no exception. The first few weeks of Battle roads will be the real test for the deck, to see how it measures up against the already established decks. With all the hype surrounding it I expect a lot of players to be trying out this new Pokemon card in the relatively unimportant Battle Roads.

#2 Beedrill / Luxray GL – Steven Silvestro’s deck, proven to be worthy of a World Championship. This deck is easy to build, as the only difficult card to get is Luxray GL Lv.X., and so variants of this deck should see a lot of play during Battle Roads since people will realize it’s a relatively easy way to guarantee doing well at the tournaments.

#3 Flygon / Machamp – Second only to Beedrill, this deck has a heavy hitter in Flygon, disruption with Flygon Lv.X and a safe way to deal with SP Pokemon with Machamp. Depending on SP Pokemon popularity in your area, this deck could be a more popular choice over Beedrill.

#4 Machamp / Gengar – The ever popular combo, with the addition of Relicanth SV, this deck now has a reliable answer to Unown G and makes your opponent have second thoughts on playing down all their Pokemon tools to power down Poltergeist.

#5 Gyarados – What most people consider the rogue deck of last season, many people were fascinated by it, and since it is a relatively cheap and easy to build deck, I expect a lot of people to be trying this out due to the novelty factor accompanied by it. If people haven’t seen our video analysis on it, or were at Worlds to see it first hand, it will most likely take a few people by surprise who underestimate the deck.

#6 Kingdra – A fast paced, straight forward deck. Although the popularity of Nidoqueen made this deck a lot less effective, Metagross SV could possibly be the card to help put this deck back on the map as a real contender by giving Kingdra an easier time to OHKO basics on the bench or reduce the numbr of turns it takes to KO a Claydol sitting on the bench.

#7 Palkia Lock, Luxray GL / Infernape 4, Luxray GL / Honchkrow G and Flygon Lock – The first 3 decks are considered outdated and outclassed by the new SP Pokemon released in Platinum: Supreme Victors, and Flygon Lock is a deck that needs faster turns and relies on an unconventional way to win a match. All of these reasons will put these decks on the shelf during Battle Roads.

There will certainly be other decks present, but I don’t think they will be popular enough to warrant any teching against such decks. For example Honchkrow SV could see play, but my testing has shown it is nothing more than a gimmick and will not win out many games in the long run.

One card to always have in mind though is Mewtwo Lv.X, specially if you’ll be using the new SP Pokemon, always make sure you have a response to it, or else you will be scooping to a lot of decks.

So are you guys ready for the Pokemon TCG Battle Roads? I sure am, and I look forward to playing a variety of decks in the 4 or 5 Battle Roads I’ll be going to. Hope you guys enjoyed reading this, and feel free to discuss any decks I may have forgotten to list.

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  • pokefart
    Great report. I have never seen ryperior deck.
  • PokePockets
    At our Battle Road here in Utah, these following placed:

    1st-Luxray GL/Manectric
    2nd-Kingdra
    3rd/4th-Beedrill and Gyrados

    Seniors
    1st-Rhyperior
    2nd-Kingdra

    Quite a bit of variety. Luxray/Manectric played the Gyrados in top 4 and then the Kingdra in top 2
  • Hutchistack
    Blaziken and Flygon, oddly enough, made no showing at my local BR's today.

    Infernape 4 was favored over Blaziken FB, and GeChamp decks were favored over Flygon decks.

    Got 2nd with LuxApe though, so I was happy-ish.
  • Xicious
    Nice, article with links to all the decks. Hella sick, i'm looking forward to BRs, which ones are you hitting up Adam?
  • PokePockets
    Shall I analyze the current decks? Let's see...

    Flygon Lock:IMO, any Flygon variant that has a solid, consistent list and has the right player behind it is definitely going to go far in any tournament. It doesn't have a lot of problem matchups other than lock decks like Palkia/Dialga

    Palkia Lock:Once again, this deck is a very solid choice as well, with not that many problem matchups, with any Machamp variant giving it problems. Though the Splashing Turn into a Crobat G with Unown G gives you a lot of help in that matchup.

    Luxray GL/Honchkrow:While I am a much bigger fan of ApeRay, this deck is quite good. Luxray has great speed but not a lot of damage output. The Crobat/Honchkrow combo fixes that. Throw in a 1-1/2-1 Garchomp C line and this deck is pretty golden IMO

    Gyrados:While this deck can have some rough setup problems, it has potential. Quick Luxray hits can give it problems though, since all you need is a Flash Bite and Lucario GL in play, and they need either their Toxicroak G or 2 Flash Bites and a Tail Revenge for a return KO. This deck is a bit shaky, but a good choice

    Machamp/Gengar:A deck I just don't like at all. If you can get something good coming from it, props too you. The worst enemy of the deck is it's self. While it can comeback quickly since it is 2 Stage 2's attacking for 1 energy, bad starts and inconsistency can really hurt it. I don't see this deck doing too much.

    Luxray GL/Infernape 4:One of my personal favorite SP decks, though it didn't have the best showing at Worlds. Some would say Blaziken FB should take the place of Infernape 4. I like it just the way it was meant to be. Palkia Lock consistently beats it and if you don't have a quick set up, Flygon gets ya pretty good. This deck might not be the best choice, but if you're comfortable with it, play it.

    Kingdra:I thought this card had gone away after it's dominance of Cities, but it came back, and good as ever. Quick, efficient, and spreads damage. I like it a lot and think it could go good things. Perhaps you could play it with Metagross SV or just straight up from a great swarming approach. Oh, and if you're lucky (like a good friend of mine) vs. Flygon, all of the Wind Erosion's will be Water Energy, haha.

    Beedrill/Luxray GL:I'm not going to question why this won Worlds. I am a BIG fan of Beedrill but I didn't like the move to put in Luxray GL to throw off consistency. I guess that didn't happen, cause it won Worlds. This deck is shaky cause if it doesn't go off in 2 turns, you're done. Make sure you have a consistent list that can get you AT LEAST 2 Bees by Turn 2.

    Blaziken FB:I would HOPE you pair this guy with Luxray GL, or else Kingdra and Palkia shut you down pretty bad. I'm not too big of a fan of this card, though Luring Flame is a sick attack. If played right, it could do well. But...I think Kingdra and Palkia Lock will keep it in check
  • @nardd: Have Garchomp and Absol seen a lot of play in your area? I remember everyone was pretty big on Garchomp here but I haven't heard anything in a bit, and I don't think Absol was ever given the chance outside of a few fun decks.
  • nardd
    I've only seen garchomp hype online, and not much absol support, but I can't really tell you about the area since I haven't made it to league in a while :/

    I was just commenting that you might run into them at BR since they are new cards and all.
  • I can't speak for Pablo, but the consensus from a few players I know that have been testing a lot is that Blaziken is superior to Infernape because it is better versus Beedrill and Flygon. I don't know about other matchups, but Blaziken seems preferred because it is better vs those two Pokemon.
  • Hutchistack
    As I said on the Facebook site, I think stating that LuxApe is "Outclassed and Outdated" is an ignorant statement. It's still one of the most solid SP decks out there, capable of withstanding several rounds of tournament play when built correctly.

    It WILL be played, and expect anyone who can afford it to consider it as a deck choice.
  • nardd
    Don't forget about Garchomp SV and Absol G variants, as well as those brave souls attempting to use rayquayza C. I expect to see a lot of blaziken FB and other SP decks, as well as Flychamp everywhere, but there are a lot of viable decks for BR right now.
  • I think Blaziken is all hype. Well, at least I think BlazeRay is all hype, and it seems like that's what most people are planning to build.

    RayBees is one of those decks that I feel, although they're great, not many people are going to be able to play them correctly. No one was really using this deck prior to Silvestro, and I don't think anyone is going to be able to master it the way he did.

    Flygon/Machamp will be pretty big, methinks.

    Machamp/Gengar won't be as good as FlyChamp, but will be useful with Relicanth and all. Not as big as it once was, though.

    Gyarados won't be played by a whole lot of people, but it will dominate where it is played.

    Kingdra is the weirdest deck in the format. It's always going to be used, and it's always going to be somewhat successful, but I think with as much Luxray there is, this season isn't going to be it's shining moment.

    Palkia Lock is going to be like Gyarados, only less successful.

    LuxApe won't be as huge as it once was, but I don't see any reason why it still can't be one of the better decks in the format. It'll win quite a few BRs, methinks.

    I don't see much success coming from Luxray/Honchkrow

    Flygon lock will be huge.

    FlyChamp
    GeChamp
    Gyarados
    Palkia Lock
    LuxApe
    Flylock

    ...are the play, in my opinion.
  • Mew
    Let's see who wrote this... Ah, the good ol Pablo.

    Well, it may be a nice article but seriously, what Pokemon-SP that would make the other SP deck outdated? For the poor Luxape, Honchkrow, etc? :S
  • Pretty good article. It's almost exactly how my predictions are. I really want to see what blaziken fb will be paired up with.
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