Hey all! Now that the Cities are finally over, we are seeing some more activity in the main page, so I should help some too adding my two cents.
Before I go to the article in itself, I would like to report a little bit on my last Cities performance, which was actually great.
I finally perfected my LuxChomp list with many of the pointers I have been giving in these articles, and after a lot of testing, went with an awesome 7-0 straight for the gold! It’s actually my first win in a big tournament since I came back to the game, but it’s a really big step forward for me. So with that over, let’s get back to the article.
Today, I’m going to talk about the next big topic on SP decks, its T/S/S line.
I know I have already talked about the SP engine plenty in my first article, but that was about how and when to play them, and I said nothing about the deck structure in itself, or the reasoning behind all those choices, so I want to make up for the lack of information here.
Since the SP decks functionality is really different, I decided to split the analysis into 3 articles, one for each of the big archetype SP decks: the offensive types, like LuxChomp; the defensive types, like DialgaChomp; and the control types, like Sablelock.
First up are the offensive types:
OFFENSIVE TYPES (LuxChomp, BlazeRay, BlazeChomp)
The secret to this type of builds is speed, surely everybody already knows that, but it’s never bad to get a reminder, since it’s not strange to get distracted from the deck’s main objective, and start over teaching so much that you lose focus on what’s important.
So, to get the speed we need to defeat stronger decks, a heavy trainer line is important, coupled with a lot of Supporters to add for consistency and search power.
There are no typical TSS lines in these types of decks, but most agree that there are staples you simply cannot left out of your list, since they make the backbone of the SP Decks, and these would be:
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
1 Bebe’s Search
3 Pokemon Collector
1 Aaron’s Collection
1 Hand Refresher (Professor Oak’s New Theory, Copycat, Looker’s Investigation, Judge)
1 Luxury Ball/Pokemon Communication
2 SP Radar
4 Poke Turn
3 Energy Gain
3 Power Spray
Cyrus’s Conspiracy
I don’t think I need to explain Cyrus, do I? Grab a Supporter (most of the time, another Cyrus), a basic Energy, and an SP Trainer – the one you need to most on that turn to set up your attackers, or to stop your opponent’s next big move.
The famous thing called a “Cyrus Chain” is exactly that, a chain of Cyrus Conspiracy, which lets you grab everything you need in 4 turns straight to get the KO on each turns. Still this requires a lot of planning, not just looking for the KO on the turn you are in, but to look past that, and use one Cyrus to get 2 KOs, or 3.
That’s why, sometimes, it’s justified to break the chain in order to adapt the strategy to the changes in the game. A good LuxChomp player should always be thinking at least 2 turns ahead, and what he grabs with Cyrus should reflect these thoughts.
Don’t just grab the first thing that comes to mind, plan what you will KO on the next turn, how, and what might your opponent do in response to your actions.
It’s a popular strategy to assume your main hitter won’t survive your opponent’s next turn, so you should analyze, according to what’s on his bench, hand, and prior knowledge of his deck (or of the deck’s skeleton list) how he can KO it next turn, and what are your going to do once he does, since it will be too late to try and get a counter once your main attacker has bitten the dust.
If it turns out your opponent couldn’t get the KO, then that’s better for you, since you can continue with the planning, and use the attacker you thought would be dead to put some more pressure on him, and if he does get the KO, you are already prepared to get the revenge kill.
For all these reasons, there is no doubt that 4 is the right number.
Bebe Search
An overall great card that has lost a little importance in SP decks since they can run SP Radar, who basically is a Trainer version of Bebe’s Search, but for SP Pokemon, Pokemon Communication, and a higher number of Pokemon Collector.
That doesn’t mean that Bebe’s Search is not important. It’s a great consistency card, and can get you the Pokemon you need even under Trainer lock, or when you have already used your SP radars, or they are prized.
1 is a staple, but 2 is the perfect number, since it serves a lot of purposes, not only searching for Pokemon, but also hiding the cards you don’t need to diminish poltergeist damage, and to get a more cards with an Uxie drop.
If you decide to run some kind of evolved tech (I will get to that in my next article) then this card becomes all the more important.
The reason it’s not so much played in SP decks is without a doubt, the fact that almost all Pokemon here are basics, and those who are not, are Lv up from Sp Pokemon, meaning that Sp Radar does a better job at getting them chained with Cyrus Conspiracy. The exception to this “rule” is Uxie LV.X, which, even if important, is not a staple, it’s pretty expensive, and not everybody can afford to run.
Usually, SP offensive builds run 2 copies of Bebe´s Search, even if it’s not mandatory and 1 could do the job well, it’s a good safety measure, adds to consistency, and lets you get any LV.X once your SP Radars have run out.
Aaron’s Collection
The best recovery card for SP decks without a doubt. The ability to get 2 in any combination of SP Pokemon and Energies directly to your hand is very important to get a constant stream of attackers into play, especially in the mirror match, that usually consists of a very fast paced prize exchange, and the first to fail to get a KO on his turn, tends to lose the game.
This is the reason that 2 is the recommended number, but it strongly depends on the number of basics energies you play, and the number of your lines. Maybe traditional 2-2 lines of Luxray and Garchomp can get away with just one Aaron’s, whereas the newly played 3-1 cannot.
As any other supporter, it can be fetched with Cyrus, so if you plan your turns in advance, you should be able to get your attackers one after the other to overwhelm your opponent.
Some people have opted to run just 1 Aaron’s, and they compensate for the lack of recovery with a Premier Ball engine.
This engine consists of 2 Premier Balls that act as a replacement for the Aaron’s in getting the SP LV.X, or the Uxie, if needed.
I don’t support this idea, as they have less versatility in recovering energies, there is no need to use this cards to get the LV.X from the deck since we already run many other trainers that can get them, and the Premier Balls can (and will) get trainer locked against VileGar, making them dead draw, and “Poltergeist” fuel.
Still, it’s a valid play that many top players are running right now.
A third option, although less played, is the combination of 1 Aaron’s and 1 Palmer’s Contribution.
The reasoning behind this play seems to be the need to grab from the discard non-sp Pokemon, such as Uxie, Uxie LV.X, and any other tech, like Chatot, Honchkrow, Drifblim, Mismagius, Etc.
In addition, it can also help in the recovery of energies with the extra slots not used for Pokemon, since 5 is a really high number for recovery.
The main downside it has when compared to Aaron’s, is that, even if it gets you more cards, they go to your deck, not to your hand, which delays the process of recovery, however, this card should be played by mid/late game, when you deck is thin enough that the chances to draw them are actually quite good.
Hand Refresher (Judge/PONT/Looker’s Investigation/Copycat)
Even if this is not considered a 100% staple in an offensive build, having a little hand refresh for emergencies is never a bad idea, and it can get you out of a tight spot when your deck’s mood is not the best and refuses to give you that Collector or Cyrus you need so desperately.
It doesn’t even have to be a hand refresh per se, disruptive supporters such as Judge or Looker’s Investigation fulfill almost the same objective, and add a little disruption as a secondary effect, perfect for mirror matches in which your opponent has the hand size advantage, so I highly recommend adding one of these.
Pokemon Collector
Pokemon Collector is one of the most heavily played cards in the format, and for good reasons. The ability to look for 3 basic Pokemon, regardless of their stats and type, and with no drawbacks it’s extremely powerful. Sure, it may not be as versatile as Roseanne’s, but it lets you get one more Pokemon, so in the early stages of the game, say the first 2 turns, its worth is extremely high.
On the other hand, not having it quickly can (and most likely, will) cost you the game.
So, with that in mind, it seems only logical to run as many of these as you can, right? Not exactly.
Tough this may be the case with stage 1 or 2 decks, it’s completely different in SP decks, since they have their own ways to grab basics.
These ways are SP Radar (at times) and mainly, Call Energy.
These two extra ways of grabbing basics, coupled with the fact that 90% of The Pokemon in an SP deck are basics, and that grabbing Uxie here is not nearly as important as in other decks, since SP decks only need to start a Cyrus chain to get what they need, makes Collector a bit less useful, and therefore, you can get by with just 3.
In my last article, I talked about the importance of Call Energy in offensive builds such as LuxChomp, and related its value to the number of Pokemon Collector that the list already was running. So now its time to tie those two knots together.
The Call Energy count must be in balance with the Pokemon Collector count. This is extremely important, because it provides a lot of consistency to the deck, but at the same time, uses up a lot of our “tech” slots. In other words, you want consistency, but you want to get it in as few card as possible.
Even so, sacrificing consistency is rarely a good idea, so I will start by saying that the minimal numbers you should rub to be on the safe side is 3 of each one.
Having 3 Call and 3 Collector will let you start with one them approximately 35% of the time for each one, im not going to do the difficult math, but the chances of having at least one of either are rather good.
However, why not play higher counts?
Pokemon Collector is extremely important in the first few turns, however, once the initial set up stage is already achieved, it doesn’t even have nearly as much usefulness. Typically, you will be playing Cyrus Conspiracy, Aaron’s Collection, Bebe Search, Twins, Judge, or any other Supporter, and just Collector for times when you need to grab many SP basics and an Uxie to refresh your attacking force.
This means that, even if having more Collectors is useful to avoid undesirable starts, unless you can make some use of them late game, they are practically dead draws.
Something similar happens with Call Energy. You need it on the first 2 or 3 turns, and after that, it’s just another energy that can barely have any use. Following this logic, having 4 seems to be the best play, since you really need it on turn 1 to boost your speed and consistency.
However, it suffers from the same problem as Collector. Late game, it’s a dead draw.
Still, it has a great advantage over the Supporter counterpart in late game, which is the fact that, even if Colorless, it’s still an energy to power of attacks, specially Garchomp C’s ones.
Even if they have little use late game by themselves, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be useful some other way.
In last year’s Nationals, Con Le added a Felicity’s Drawing to his list, to get some extra draw power and at the same time get rid of the Sableyes he didn’t use at the start of his game.
By doing this, he gave a real value late game to a card that didn’t have any.
In this same way, many LuxChomps added a few discarding cards to get side effects, and get rid of the extra Collectors. In my case, I play 2 Junk Arms, that way I get to play a useful trainer again, and at the same time, give a value to the useless Collectors and Calls late game, which in turn would let me play a 4th Collector (which I want to) without having to worry so much about dead draws late game.
This kind of “balance and synergy” between cards that seem to be unrelated is essential in SP builds, to save space and add consistency and speed.
In conclusion, the play of 3-3, 3-4 or 4-3 Collector-Call, entirely depends on personal tastes, and the synergy with the rest of the list, but no less that 3-3 is recommended in offensive builds.
Luxury Ball/Pokemon Communication
Not exactly a staple for everyone, but it’s definitely a must in my book.
The Bebe’s Search have their place in this deck, and as this card cannot be searched, it has a greater reliance on luck than what I would want, but still, it complements really well with SP Radar, it’s a trainer, meaning we can play it anytime (except on trainer lock), and can grab any Pokemon, not just SP ones.
Pokemon Communication and Luxury Ball may seem like like equal cards, but there is actually a HUGE difference between them, so I will explain them thoroughly.
Luxury Ball is a trainer that can grab any non-Level up Pokemon, without any requirement. The only problem is that, if you have already a Luxury Ball in the discard, you can’t play it, which is not too much of an issue since we only run 1 anyways. The main difficulty this card faces, is that it can´t grab the all important Lv Ups.
Since a typical SP offensive build will run anywhere from 2 to 5 Level Ups (1-2 Luxray LV.X, 1-2 Garchomp LV.X, 1-2 Blaziken LV.X, Uxie LV.X), this card has a big drawback.
On the other hand we have Pokemon Communication. As Luxury Ball, it’s a trainer card that can search for any Pokemon, not just SP ones. The draw back? You have to put a Pokemon from your hand into your deck to play it. However, with so many Collectors, SP radars, Bebe Search, and Poke Turn, this is rarely a problem.
I can say that I have never been in a situation in which I wanted to use it, but didn’t have a Pokemon in hand to put in the deck.
The advantage? It can get ANY Pokemon from your deck: basics, evolutions, SP, normal, and Level Ups. This is the main reason it should be played over Luxury Ball in SP decks.
As with Luxury, you should be playing only one of these, maybe two, if you can afford the space, but I guarantee one is enough.
SP Radar
Now we have the first of the SP trainers. Sp Radar is like an SP version of Bebe Search, meaning it can search for any SP Pokemon, even Lv Ups, with the difference it’s a trainer. As it’s a Team Galactic Invention, it can be searched for with Cyrus, so that’s one of its strong points.
On the downside, as it’s a trainer, it will be useless under Trainer lock.
Overall it’s a great card that will let you speed up your set up, and grab those important Lv.Xs, Crobat G´s, Bronzong G´s or any other thing you need, right when you need it. With the correct planning and anticipation, it can be really powerful in the mirror match, so I recommend playing no less than 2.
There is a little issue over the right number. Some time ago, 3 was considered the right play, but nowadays it has been lowered to 2.
The reason?
Well, there are many things that can explain it, but I believe it’s mainly due to the presence of Junk Arm which lets you reuse a trainer.
This means you can have a 3rd radar at any time if needed; also, since most SP decks are now playing lines of 3-1 and 2-1, which translates in less SP Lv Ups to look for with SP Radar, it’s no longer a problem to fetch them with only two copies of the card.
Anyways, if you play lines of 2-2, maybe a third Radar would be a good idea to boost your consistency, but I don’t recommend it. As I said, the Junk Arm can get you out of a tight spot, and also give you more versatility to grab the trainer you need.
If you play your Radars smartly, you should not have any problems at all.
I have come to understand that if you play 3 Radars in a game, there is something you did wrong, or at least, you could have done better with your 2 previous Lv Xs. The only exception to this seems to be the fact that one Radar is prized, which doesn’t happen too often, and if you check your deck to know your prizes (like you should), then you will already know this, and should play accordingly.
In addition, if you are running Pokemon Communication things become even easier, there is also Bebe Search, and you won’t normally use so many Lv.Xs in a single match, so the third Radar is usually a dead card.
Poke Turn
The star among SP trainers, Poke Turn has the amazing ability to scoop up one of your SP Pokemon, with all cards attached to it. Just like that, no coin, no drawbacks.
Not only has the ability to heal your Pokemon, but can also be played to reuse coming into game and once per turn powers, to make bench space, to “retreat” twice per turn, and so on.
With such a versatile and powerful card, seems pretty obvious to me that you would want 4 of these, not even one less. And this is a fact that all players seem to agree.
However, not long ago I read an article from a top player suggesting the idea of lowering it to 3, since you already run Junk Arms.
The reasoning behind it was that the Poke Turns were used mainly for healing, to create a war of attrition, and eventually wear down your opponent.
Since this season things have changed and this war is no longer necessary, the number of Poke Turns could be lowered.
Let me state this clearly, I couldn’t disagree more with that reasoning.
As I mentioned, Poke Turn is not just for healing, it has a wide array of different uses, and it’s such an important card for SP, that there is a “rule” among SP players saying you should draw a prize every time you use a Poke Turn. If you don’t, you are doing something wrong.
That would mean that running less Poke Turns would virtually be equal to drawing less “free” prizes.
Energy Gain
The third of the SP trainers is the famous Energy Gain. Energy Gain is a tool that can only be attached to SP Pokemon, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful. When attached to SP Pokemon, it reduces the costs of attacks by [C].
This is virtually like attaching another energy, but in the form of a Trainer. For this, and because it can be fetched with Cyrus, it’s a really powerful card that serves the purpose of making SP Pokemon even faster than what they already are.
In the past, offensive builds ran 4 of them, but nowadays, many players have switched to 3, and compensate for the lack of a 4th with Junk Arm, or simply play Expert Belt.
I think that 3 is the right play, since you rarely will need more than that, and because in case you do, you can always get one more with a Junk Arm.
However, playing 4 is not a bad move either, it just depends on your energy line. If you read my last article about energy counts in SP decks, you will remember that I mentioned the strong relationship between the number on Energy Gains, the number of energies, and the number of Aaron’s Collections in a deck.
That time, I said that 12 energies is the most balanced number, coupled with 3 Energy Gain, and 2 Aaron’s Collection to make 15 to 17 energies on average.
If you plan on running 4 Energy Gains, it may be a wise idea to cut an energy in order to make space, however, do keep in mind that you can attach as many Energy Gain per turn as you wish, while you can only attach 1 energy per turn.
Also, don’t forget that Energy Gain, even if it acts as an energy, it’s not, meaning you cannot get it back once it’s on the discard pile, except with Junk Arm.
Another thing to remember when deciding the right number is the fact that Energy Gain is meant as a type of energy acceleration, meaning you combine it with DCE, Fire or Electric (depending on your deck) to power up your attackers in one turn.
If you play too few Energy Gains, you will find that you are usually lacking an energy attachment to attack that turn, which leaves you in a bad board position, oftentimes making you get behind in the prize exchange; but if you play too many, the energies (the real energies, or the “trainer energies”) will start to clog your hands, specially under trainer lock, making Uxie drops less powerful, and fueling Gengar´s “Poltergeist”, so watch out for that.
Power Spray
And finally we arrive at the last piece of the SP engine, and the “staples”, the Power Spray. This is one of the key cards in the offensive builds disruption plan, cutting your access to key powers, such as “Set up”, “Time walk”, “Portrait” and so on.
On the downside, you NEED to have 3 SP Pokemon in play if you want to play this card. In offensive builds this is normally not a problem, unless you make the mistake of overextending, filling you bench with Uxies, Azelfs and the like, leaving no place for your 3 SPs.
The fact that it’s a trainer means it can be locked by Spiritomb or Vileplume, but this isn’t usually a big issue, and since it can be fetched with Cyrus, like the rest of the SP engine, you virtually have access to it anytime you need it, although you do need to plan ahead a bit, and figure if your opponent will active a key power in his next turn.
Even if you don’t actually play it, the fact that you have it in your hand automatically threats your opponent’s game plan, and forces them to play around your Spray, many times wasting cards or resources just to get that Power trough in the process.
The right number has been a really long topic of discussion, either 3 or 4 seem like the right choices, and I myself am not really sure what the best number is, however, I am slightly more in agreement with the players who think 3 is the best.
As you get more experienced in playing offensive SP builds, you learn which powers are really important for your opponent according to his deck’s list, board position, hand size, discard pile, and so on, and which are simply Spray bait.
Not always Spraying an Uxie is the right call. As you only get 3 shoots at spraying, sometimes, if you know your opponent isn’t in desperately need of drawing, it’s better to just let it pass, and Spray something else. If you get the hang of this, then spraying 3 vital powers should be all the advantage you need to take a favorable board position, and ultimately, the game.
Even so, playing 4 is not something bad either. The main advantage of playing 4 comes tied to Call Energy.
Why, you ask? Well, the fact that you can get 3 SP Pokemon in Turn 1 into play, means you can already use Power Spray on your opponent’s first Uxie. Usually, people will use collector for one Uxie, and 2 attackers, so if you can cut their drawing power early on the first turn, you will have a great advantage already. To accomplish this, having 4 Sprays gives you better odds at having one in your first hand.
On the other hand, the main problem with playing 4 is the lack of space. In many offensive lists (mainly LuxChomp) the techs already take many spots, so having a 4th Spray usually means not having something more important.
As I said, if you are smart with your Sprays, 3 should be all you need to win.
Also, if you run some Junk Arms, with a bit of careful planning you can recover one of your Sprays at the right time, and I as said before, even if you don’t use it, the fact that you have it in hand is normally enough of a threat for your opponent.
Now that we have explained the “staples”, let’s continue with techs:
Energy Exchanger
Junk Arm
Twins
Expert Belt
Energy Exchanger
Energy Exchanger was one of the strongest cards to come from the Undaunted set for SP decks, along with Smeargle.
As you may know, it’s a trainer card, and it has the ability to look for ANY energy , at the cost of putting one energy from your hand back to your deck.
This may seem to be a bit problematic at first, but if we take Cyrus Conspiracy into account, the problem is easily solved.
So, why would you want to spend a slot on this card? How can it help you?
The answer is called Double Colorless Energy.
In SP mirror matches (mainly, LuxChomp mirrors, but it also applies to any Garchomp based SP deck, such as DialgaChomp or Sablelock) the speed in which you draw your DCEs, more often than not gives you an edge that’s impossible to overturn, as it almost makes you the automatic winner of the Garchomp war.
In this regard, Energy Exchanger lets you get your DCEs faster than your opponent, and this is something that should under no reason be underestimated.
The main problem with this card lies in the fact that it’s a trainer, which will turn it into dead draw and “Poltergeist” fuel against VileGar.
Still, it’s a pretty solid choice for a tech card, and warrants to play one in any Garchomp based SP deck.
Junk Arm
One of the most important cards to come out in Triumphant, it’s an all-star in SP decks.
This decks normally run a wide variety of powerful trainers, so this card will let you reuse them again, to further your advantage.
Need a 5th Poke Turn? You have it. Lacking Energy Gain? No problem.
Your second SP Radar is prized? Junk arm will solve it for you.
What’s not to love?
In any case, most SP decks can only afford to run 2 at max, but in my opinion, only one is actually needed, even if a second one doesnt really hurt. Just drop the count of SP Radar and Energy Gain, since this two cards will cover those in case of an emergency.
Lastly, do you remember what I said about being able to discard things that no longer have value? Well, this card will also let you convert those useless extra Collectors, the third Uxie you didn’t use, the Lucario GL you don’t need, and much more, into pretty valuable trainers, so it’s a win-win situation.
Twins
Now, this is one of my favorite techs for offensive builds that has won its rightful place in my list.
What is that? You don’t understand why a card that only works when you are losing would go well in a deck that is supposed to start winning as soon as possible?
Well, the answer are two words: Mirror match.
Sure, Offensive builds such as LuxChomp and BlazeRay are supposed to win right off the bat, but what happens when you face another deck with the same purpose?
In that case, whichever player starts winning comes down to who’s got the better start.
So, to recover the lead you will need to outplay your opponents with smart moves, and a few good top decks with help from lady luck.
Why not include a card that can give you those lucky draws, without the luck factor?
Twins is a supporter that you can only use when the opponent has less prize cards that you. If that’s the case, you may grab two any cards from your deck, and put them in your hand.
If you start losing, you play Twins to get back the winning position. And if you are already winning, then you don’t need Twins in the first place, so even if it’s a dead card in those situations, it’s not a dead weight in your hand at all.
That’s the objective of Twins in an offensive build. Not always will you start winning. Not always you will steamroll your opponent’s set up.
So, for those cases when you don’t, there’s Twins.
It’s a great card to grab the pieces you need to get those KOs you have been planning on for 3 turns, but lack the resources for them.
Especially those elusive DCEs, which can make or break a player’s game.
In addition, it’s an easy to look for card with Cyrus, so playing it and getting it when you need it is not even a problem.
Even if your opponent sees you searching for a Twins, it’s highly unlikely he won’t take the KO in fear of a counter, but rather will try to predict you next counter and prepare one of his own.
Following this line of reasoning, it’s not even so easy to predict what you will grab with Twins.
You have your entire deck at your disposal, so it would be a smart idea to be creative with your counters, in order to avoid your movements to be read.
And even if it’s painfully obvious what you will get with Twins, even even if everybody in the table already knows it, including the little Junior player that’s watching the match besides you, it doesn’t mean that your opponent can stop you from doing it. Sometimes, you know what the other will do, but simply cannot stop him with the cards you’ve got.
Twins can transform a weak board position into a great recovery, but it will need A LOT of careful planning for it to work correctly. This card is definitely good, but will make your list more complex, and will make you think twice which 2 cards you need, and how your opponent is going to react to them.
You could even grab the card you need to get a KO and a Cyrus, to continue the chain you broke before.
Still, even with all these advantages, I wouldnt play more than 1, since having more than that will make them appear in your first hand, thus weakening your set up. It’s a card for emergencies, and should not replace the strategy of the deck and be depended on by any means.
Expert Belt
The last of the tech cards I considered strong enough to be included as options is Expert Belt, a well known staple in many stage 1 and stage 2 decks, who still can find many uses in SP offensive builds.
Expert Belt is a tool card, that when attached to a Pokemon, it gives a nice extra 20 HP, and a boost on damage to attacks, but only applied to the opponent’s active Pokemon. As a drawback, if the Pokemon Expert Belt is attached to is KOed, the opponent grabs an extra prize.
As it stands, Garchomp C doesn’t have many uses for this card, since most of the time he will be attacking the bench, and with a colorless weakness, the +20HP isn’t really that effective in keeping him alive. However, Luxray GL and Blaziken FB do. These two greatly benefit from a well timed Expert Belt, increasing their already good damage output, and putting them just outside the revenge KO range from their main threat, Toxicroak G promo’s “Poison Revenge”.
In addition, the fact that you can Poketurn them next turn means you don’t need to risk giving up 2 prizes, so as a surprise play it’s pretty solid.
Expert Belt doesn’t limit itself to your main attackers tough. Other Pokemon such as Uxie and its LV.X counterpart, Drifblim UD, Honckrow SV, even the old tech Mismagius SF can effectively use this tool to increase their damage and become harder to KO.
Still, this doesn’t come without its problems. As it’s a trainer, it will be a dead draw against trainer lock, and (taking into account the fact that SP Pokemon are generally fragile, plus they have always a x2 weakness) if the Pokemon Expert Belt is attached to gets KOed, you give up 2 prizes, so that’s something to think about.
Also, attaching Expert Belt to some of your SP Pokemon means you can’t attach the important Energy Gain, so your attacks will be more costly and slower. Even so, it’s a nice card that can get you out of tight spots, and even if it can’t be easily grabbed (unless you also play Twins) it’s still a good investment.
There are other cards that’s possible to fit into an offensive build, such as LuxChomp, for example, but since they are weaker options IMO, im not going to explain them, but I will mention a few: Palmers Contribution, Seeker, Looker’s Investigation, Conductive Quarry, Vs Seeker, PONT, etc.
Well, now we finally have the knowledge about every card that can be played in an offensive SP build, and the numbers we should be playing, according with our strategy.
This is just the list I would choose, but since I explained the reasons for the most popular choices in cards and numbers, you may feel free to make some changes here or there, but always keep in mind the reason why you add or take out a card, and aim for a general balance in your deck.
Remember, many cards compliment each other and have more synergy than what it looks like at first sight.
Trainers, Supporter, Stadiums: 28 Cards
4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy
2 Bebe’s Search
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Aaron’s Collection
1 Judge
1 Pokemon Communication
2 SP Radar
4 Poke Turn
3 Energy Gain
3 Power Spray
1 Twins
1 Energy Exchanger
1 Junk Arm
Well, that’s it for the TSS lines in offensive builds, in next articles I will talk about the defensive builds, and finally, the control builds.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.
See ya guys!
