With Worlds over, the new format kicking in, and Undaunted being, how does all this affect the game in its current state?
Intro:
We all know that decks like Luxchomp, Sablelock, Jumpluff, and a few others dominated the format, but the release of Undaunted and the rotation poses a threat for quite a few of those decks.
How this affects non SP decks:
With the loss of Claydol, Roseanne’s Research, and Unown G, just about all non SP decks lose potential. Jumpluff in particular is stymied by the loss of Claydol. Claydol was very important in Jumpluff and without it Jumpluff simply won’t be as fast as it originally was.
Most stage 1 and stage 2 decks like Machamp, Torterra, Gyarados, and Donphan rely on trainers for consistency. Undaunted revealed a card that will give those decks, along with SP decks, a run for their money, and that card my friends is Vileplume. Vileplume is just like Spiritomb AR except for it works even while on the bench. That is going to be annoying.
How this affects SP decks:
The rotation won’t be too much of a threat to SP due to the fact that all it’s losing is Unown G which was used to counter Machamp.
But Undaunted is another story.
Vileplume prevents the use of Power Spray, Energy Gain, SP Radar and Poke Turn, which are very important components of SP decks.
Scizor Prime is a hard hitting contender as well. Its Poke-Body prevents damage done by Pokemon with any special energies attached to them, so looks like DCE is out of the question for Garchomp C. At least Luxray GL LV.X can still attack it and on top of that Luxray has resistance to it.
Luckily SP is prepared for both these threats. Dialga G LV.X blocks Vileplume’s and Scizor Prime’s poke-bodies. Don’t be surprised if you see in increase in the use of Dialga G. Even in non SP decks it’ll work well to counter Vileplume.
But what does Undaunted have to offer?
The Primes aren’t bad but they aren’t good either. They certainly don’t compare to HG/SS or Unleashed. Scizor is probably the best of the bunch. Slowking Prime is almost like Uxie Lv X: you reveal the top 2 cards of your deck but your opponent chooses what goes to your hand and what goes to the bottom of your deck. Wow! What a terrible power. Giving your opponent the opportunity to choose which of the two cards you take is bad. I guess the only thing Slowking has over Uxie LV.X is a slightly higher HP and it can OHKO Mewtwo LV.X.
The set does have some pretty cool other cards like Smeargle which lets you copy a supporter from your opponent’s hand and Rotom which is a bad version of Azelf LA. There’s also Drifblim which can force your opponent to shuffle their active back into their deck and then there’s Leafeon which pairs pretty well with Magmortar SV.
Dodrio is pretty neat too because it gives your active Pokemon 2 less retreat cost. The set also introduces some new trainers, supporters and stadiums. My choice favorite of the supporters has to be Flower Shop Lady which is a better Night Maintenance. What it does is lets you return 3 Pokemon and 3 basic energy back into your deck.
What do you predict will make an appearance in upcoming Battle Roads and Cities? I for sure know that I’m going to be teching Dialga G LV.X in my deck… or maybe I’ll just take my chances and hope not to get paired against Vileplume or Scizor?
I hope you enjoyed this article and until next time, this is hgssprime. See you guys later.
