Darkrai/Sableye with Keldeo EX (Japanese Fall Battle Carnival)

The fall Battle Carnival tournament was held in Japan recently and they results turned out to be very surprising to many. Plasma Gale was predicted to make a huge splash in the meta but while it did make an impact, it didn't make a very big one. Not a single Plasma deck made it into the top four but one plasma card did and that card was Poison Hypnotic Beam. 

Open League
1st - Darkrai EX + Sableye + Keldeo EX (This is the list shown in the picture above. )


Pokemon 9
4x Darkrai EX
4x Sableye
1x Keldeo EX

Supporter 12
4x Bianca
4x N
4x Professor Juniper

Item 27
4x Dark Patch
4x Pokemon Catcher
4x Poison Hypnotic Beam
4x Potion
4x Ultra Ball
2x Dark Claw
1x Energy Search
1x Eviolite
1x Random Receiver
1x Tool Scrapper
1x Computer Search [ACE SPEC]

Stadium 2
2x Virbank City Gym

Energy 10
10x Darkness Energy 

As you can see it looks like a very standard Darkrai/Sableye variant but you'll notice a few things different about it. The big one being that it plays four Poison Hypnotic Beams and two copies of Virbank City. For those who don't know, Poison Hypnotic Beam and Virbank City Gym read like this...

 

Poison Hypnotic Beam – Trainer
Item (Team Plasma)

The Defending Pokemon is now Poisoned. Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokemon is also Asleep.

You can use any number of Item cards during your turn.

Virbank City Gym – Trainer
Stadium

If a Pokemon is Poisoned, place two more damage counters on it between turns.

This card stays in play when you play it. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. If another card with the same name is in play, you can’t play this card.

So you can see the obvious synergy here. With Virbank in play, one Poison Hypnotic beam is the equivalent to three Plus Powers but with a couple major perks aside from the face that it's +30 damage.

Perk #1- A chance to also put them to sleep. With a few unlucky flips on their side, they could stay asleep long enough for the poison damage to rack up and knock them out.

Perk #2- Paired with Dark Claw (which was played at a higher count than Eviolite) Terrakion almost becomes a non threat to Darkrai. With Dark Claw, Night Spear is doing 110 damage and with Virbank in play, PHB basically turns that into 140 damage KOing a Terrakion. BUT, since Terrakion was killed by poison your opponent wouldn't be able to follow up with a Retaliate from another Terrakion.

So Poison Hypnotic Beam with Virbank City Gym is a VERY strong combo indeed. In fact it was played in all three of the winning lists.

Another interesting thing about the list was that it played four Potion. While Potion has been featured in Darkrai builds before, it has never been played at four. I can only imagine that this was to offset the poison damage done by the PHB/Virbank combo which ,as mentioned earlier, was very popular.

Something else to note was the one Keldeo EX tech. 

With a single dark energy attached to Keldeo, Dark Cloak gives it free retreat and it essentially serves as a Switch when ever you need it. Especially against status condition like Paralyzing and even now, poisoning. Another function it could serve is to act as a Landorus EX counter being able to two shot the very popular contender.

As it looks right now, Darkrai isn't going anywhere anytime soon and no matter what get's thrown his way, he will remain a dominant force in the format until he gets rotated out. Now I will leave you the other two lists the had success tournament.

Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX/Tornadus EX/Bouffalant 

 
Pokemon 10
3x Landorus EX
3x Mewtwo EX
2x Tornadus EX
2x Bouffalant

Supporter 15
4x Professor Juniper
4x N
4x Cheren
2x Colress
1x Skyla

Item 22
4x Poison Hypnotic Beam
4x Pokemon Catcher
4x Switch
2x EXP. Share
2x Max Potion
2x Ultra Ball
2x Energy Switch
1x Enhanced Hammer

1x Scrambled Switch [ACE SPEC]

Stadium 2
2x Virbank City Gym

Energy 11
7x Fighting Energy
4x Double Colorless Energy

 Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant

Pokemon 7
3x Landorus EX
2x Mewtwo EX
2x Bouffalant

Supporter 13
4x Bianca
4x Professor Juniper
2x N
2x Skyla
1x Colress

Item 25
4x Poison Hypnotic Beam
4x Pokemon Catcher
4x Switch
3x Energy Switch
3x EXP. Share
2x Enhanced Hammer
2x Max Potion
2x Ultra Ball
1x Computer Search [ACE SPEC]
 

 Stadium 2 

 2x Virbank City Gym
Energy 12
 9x Fighting Energy
 4x Double Colorless Energy

So as you can see both deck are very similar and seem to be modeled after the Terrakion/Mewtwo/Bouffalant lists that performed very well in their last Battle Carnival.

One thing I like in the list with Tornadus was the use of Scramble Switch instead of Computer Search. I can certainly see Scramble Switch working very well with Mewtwo. 

A few other things to note is that Colress was played in low counts, this is probably due to these kinds of decks not having a full bench very often. Draw supporters were also more popular than the search capability provided by Skyla. And one last thing to note is that Plasma Klinklang didn't perform very well. One would assume it would given these results but as it has been proven time and time again, speed and consistency prevails once again.

Big thanks to RestlessBob of Pokegym.net for provided the results and to Pokebeach.com for supplying the images.

Vodka for the Russian

To start off, "Vodka for the Russian" was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that Keldeo's ability was changed from "Step In" to "Rush In".

Now, onto the topic at hand.

Keldeo is arguably the best EX to be introduced in Boundaries Crossed. Keldeo and Landorus are neck and neck as of right now. The are many things, however, that make Keldeo a step above the rest. Let's take a look at the card, shall we?

1) 170 HP is pretty standard for a Pokemon such as Keldeo. He's not some big beefy tank and he's not some weak little legendary. So 170 is just right in my opinion.

2) Keldeo has one of the most well-rounded abilities in the game right now. It eliminates the need for Switch which would be an absolute must if it weren't for this ability. Rush In eliminates any hope of your opponent to stall by catchering up something fat like Blastoise and also makes status conditions almost obsolete.

3) This card pairs beautifully with the new Blastoise. Deluge allows to pile enough energy on Keldeo to where Keldeo can one shot absolutely anything your opponent has to thow at you. This, however, can make Keldeo vulnerable to Mewtwo's X Ball but we'll cover that shortly.

4) Being weak to grass is great when there are only two notable grass attackers in the format. (Shaymin EX and Verizion NVI) The sheer presence of this card has caused Shaymin and Verizion to gain more popularity than they did before. People are even finding ways to tech them into other decks just to counter Keldeo.

But Keldeo isn't the only player on this team. Think of it like football. Keldeo is the receiver, but the receiver is nothing without the quarterback. In this case, your quarterback comes in the form of Blastoise.

Let us take a look at our star quarterback.

1) 140 HP is pretty high for a stage 2 now a days but with Hydreigon's presence still being felt, 140 is perfect for Hydra to Dragonblast into oblivion.

2) Deluge, in it's own right, is a pretty great ability but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Remember Emboar? It does however pair perfectly with Keldeo's Sacred Sword attack. It's like a match made in heaven.

3) Hydro Pump also serves as a great back up attack to deal with those pesky Sigalyphs.

4) Being weak to grass threw many off because Blastoise has always been weak to lightning. But because of this, Zeels will have an even harder time dealing with the new deck.

5) 4 retreat is huge but it doesn't matter because of Keldeo's Rush In ability.

So now I will provide you with my current list and explain my reasoning behind some certain techs I've included.

Pokemon: 13

3-1-3 Blastoise

3 Keldeo EX

2 Mewtwo EX

1 Kyurem NVI

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

4 N

3 Juniper

3 Skyla

3 Cheren

1 Cilan

4 Pokemon Catcher

3 Rare Candy

3 Super Scoop Up

3 Ultra Ball

2 Level Ball

1 Heavy Ball

2 Energy Retrieval

1 Computer Search

1 Tropical Beach

Energy:

2 Double Colorless

11 Water

So now I am going to discuss some of my current decisions in this list thus far.


Mewtwo EX

As mentioned earlier, Mewtwo can cause a heavily loaded Keldeo some issues and there is no better way to deal with a Mewtwo than a Mewtwo of your own.

Not only that, but X Ball abuses any form of energy acceleration the game has to offer.












Kyurem NVI

Glaciate has proven itself to be one of the most dangerous attacks in the game. It is great to soften up big HP Pokemon for Keldeo so that so many energy won't need to be committed to a single one. it's also work amazing against set up deck, putting the basics on the clock.

Outrage is Kyurem's first attack and it is not something to overlook For just 2 energy, this attack's damage caps at 140! not too shabby if you ask me.









Cilan

 In a deck where your source for energy acceleration is from the hand, nobody abuses Cilan better than Blastoise (or Emboar). Cilan thins the deck and also gets you out of those dreaded energyless hands.














Super Scoop Up

Some people are on the fence when it comes to this card but I love it. The ability to completely heal your attack and put right back down with all it's energy the same turn is too good to pass up in my eyes. Reminds of good old Gyarados from Stormfront.















Heavy Ball

 In a deck that can be insanely hurt by a late game N, conserving resources is the best thing you can do. I often find myself with Rare Candy and Skyla in the same hand so instead of search out Ultra Ball with the Skyla thus being forced to discard cards that I would much rather save just to set up a Blastoise, I would much rather search out Heavy Ball instead.












Energy Retrieval 

Your attackers will get knocked out at one point so this is great for retrieving those energy.


















Tropical Beach

As mentioned before, this deck can get royally screwed by a late game N and Tropical Beach is the perfect answer to that. Not only can it help with a slow set up but if you don't top deck out of that deadly N, instead of just drawing and passing, you can refill your hand with this little gem putting right back in the game.













Double Colorless

I choose to play this card to not only apply early pressure with Mewtwo but to also aid a turn two Sacred Sword in the unfortunate event that you can't get Blastoise up and rolling fast enough.

Other options to explore

With energy acceleration like this, it leaves the door open for many techs. 

Kyurem EX

Kyurem EX would pretty much serve as a back up attacker. But in my opinion, Kyurem NVI is the better choice.

Kyogre EX

Being able to load up such a strong spread attack like Dual Splash is always a great option. It can take 1-2 surprise KO's on Pokemon that have already been heavily damaged without having to use up your Catchers.

Terrakion NVI

Darkrai EX isn't going anywhere anytime soon and Terrakion is probably the best way to deal with him. Of course playing Terrakion would require you to change up your energy lines accordingly but luckily one of the Blend energies provides water and fighting type energy.

Bouffalant DRX

In a format heavily dominated by EX Pokemon, Bouffalant is always a great option. Also, his built in Eviolite is just an added bonus to his already awesome attack.

Emolga DRX

Emolga is always an option for any set up deck.

Dusknoir

A popular variant of Keldeo/Blastoise is one that focuses on spreading with Kyurem NVI and Kyogre EX. Dusknoir could severely hurt consistency but at the same time use Kyurem and Kyogres spread and turn them into OHKO's.

Skyarrow Bridge

One thing that would make Rush In even better is if it didn't require you to put Keldeo active. What if your opponent Catchered up a Blastoise but you want to attack with something other than Keldeo EX? Dropping Keldeo's two retreat cost to one makes it easier to get it out of the active position after using Rush In.

Munna BC

Long-Distance Hypnosis can be very useful, especially in this deck. If you flip tails and put your active to sleep, as mentioned before, status conditions are almost obsolete because of Rush In. Also, if you choose to play Munna you could also add in a Musharna NDX for a little extra draw.

 

Keldeo BC 47/149

Considering what techs you chose, a Sigalyph with Safeguard can cause some issues. Keldeo's Hydro Pump does just the right amount to knock out Sigalyph.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Keldeo/Blastoise, one of the big decks to look out for for City Championships. I personally think the deck is decent but no where near best deck in format. But given the right build, I do expect this deck to perform very well and expect to see a lot of it as Cities progresses.

The perks of being liberated. (The Plasma engine )

Plasma is a new mechanic that is to be introduced to everyone outside of Japan in early 2013. Plasma re-introduces the owner's mechanic back into the tcg. This sort of idea was introduced all the way back when Gym Challenge and Gym Heros debuted. There have been only a handful to see play since and now we get one more to add to bunch in Plasma.


Which leads me to this. I'm going discuss the perks that come along with being a Plasma Pokemon. While the Pokemon themselves are very special, the tools that work along side them are what make them a force to be reckoned with.

Colress Machine – Trainer
Item (Team Plasma)
Search your deck for a Plasma Energy and attach it to one of your Team Plasma Pokemon. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
You can use any number of Item cards during your turn.

This card right here makes Plasma some of the fastest the game has to offer. The most common energy acceleration we have right now are Dark Patch, Eelektrik and the newly released Blastoise. All of these are great in their own right but there are some negatives. Dark Patch and Eelektrik accelerate energy from the discard so often do you see players slowed by this set back when they fail to get energy discard fast enough and can fall behind. Blastoise can take a devastating blow from a late game N. If all you energy get whipped off the field via a big KO and your hand get's dropped too low to recover, then you wont be attacking again anytime soon.

The only downsides I see that come with Colress Machine are that it only works for Plasma Pokemon and that it only grabs Plasma Energy which are only limited to four per deck. But aside from that, this card will 99% off the time net you an energy from your deck thus thinning your deck and building up attackers faster than before.

 Plasma Frigate – Trainer
Stadium (Team Plasma)

All Pokemon that have Plasma Energy attached to them have no Weakness.

This card stays in play when you play it. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play. If another card with the same name is in play, you can’t play this card.

In a format based one one shots and two shots, giving you're main attackers no weakness really gives you the edge in the prize trade.

 

 Plasma Energy – Special Energy (Team Plasma)  

This card provides 1 [C] Energy.

 Plasma Energy has no effects. It's just a [C] energy. But some of the Plasma Pokemon get a boost from having it attached and Lugia EX (arguably the most hyped and powerful of the bunch) need it to attack. 

 

 

Remember Holon's Adventurer? HEEEE'S BAAAAAAACK!

Team Plasma Grunt – Trainer
Supporter (Team Plasma)

Discard a Team Plasma card from your hand. Then, draw 4 cards.

You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).

Not 100% because Plasma Grunt forces you to discard but close enough.

 

 

Plasma Ball

Plasma Ball – Trainer

Item (Team Plasma)

Search your deck for a Team Plasma Pokemon card, reveal it, and add it to your hand. Shuffle your deck afterwards.

You can use any number of Item cards during your turn.

This card adds MAJOR consistency to any Plasma build. Grab a Plasma Pokemon was zero draw back? Yes please!

As of right now, these five cards are the only ones that  work exclusively with the Plasma mechanic.. So this would be known as the "Plasma Engine". Seems a bit undeveloped at the moment but I'm sure that in time, more will come about pushing the game into the age of liberation.

Other cards to look out for

Colress – Trainer
Supporter (Team Plasma)

Shuffle your hand into your deck. Then, draw an amount of cards up to the number of Pokemon on both your and your opponent’s Bench.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).

This is almost just like Steven's Advice but with one big set back. It's shuffle rather than straight draw like Steven's was. This is by no means bed but that card could be trouble when it's your only supporter in your opening hand and your opponent is playing a big basic deck that tend to have very few benched Pokemon.

Poison Hypnotic Beam – Trainer
Item (Team Plasma)

The Defending Pokemon is now Poisoned. Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokemon is also Asleep.

You can use any number of Item cards during your turn.

This card can be paired greatly with Ninetales DRX, Ratticate BC and the new Plasma Giratina.

 

Metagross - Psychic - HP140
Stage 2 - Evolves from Metang

Ability: Plasma Search
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may search your deck for a Team Plasma card, show it to your opponent, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your deck afterwards. You can't use more than one Plasma Search ability each turn.

[P][C][C][C] Psycho Trip: 60 damage. The Defending Pokemon is now Confused.
Weakness: Psychic (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

The attack is nothing great but that ability is absolutely amazing. Remember Pidgeot from Fire Red Leaf Green? It's just like that big specifically for Plasma. This card boosts consistency to the max. The should probably be considered part of the engine, along with this next card.

Plasma Badge - Trainer
Item (Team Plasma)

Pokemon Tool: Each Pokemon can have only 1 Pokemon Tool attached to it at any time.

The Pokemon that this Tool is attached to counts as a Team Plasma Pokemon.

You can use any number of Item cards during your turn.

It is unknown whether or not we will get this card or how it will be distributed if we do. This baby right here gives EVERY Pokemon the same perks that the Plasma get. Makes the engine basically universal and opens up the door to a lot of creativity. It's one downside is that it's a tool and Tool Scrapper exists.

And I've saved arguably the best for last.

Ghetsis – Trainer
 
Supporter (Team Plasma)
Look at your opponent’s hand. Your opponent shuffles all Item cards there into his or her deck. Then, draw from your deck the amount of cards your opponent shuffled into his or her deck.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack)

.
 This card is absolutely amazing and highly disruptive. A completely one sided Lass and many think that it's broken, game changing and I for one wouldn't be surprised if this is a mistranslation. This card is believed to make the biggest impact on the game. Bigger than any I listed previously.
 

 
Conclusion

It's isn't the best we've ever seen but it's  certainly a step forward and this is sure to make a BIG splash in the meta game come states so be prepared. I, for one, am very excited for this and can't wait to see what comes of it.

A look into the future

Welcome to the future of the Pokemon trading card game. My name is Garrett Williamson, also known as Hgssprime. I started a blog a few years ago when I first started playing but my interests in it died shortly after. Seeing competitive tcg blogs starting to pop up has inspired me to reinvent my own.

So here we are in the year 2012 and the game has undergone many changes since the glory days. Some say it's better, some say it's worse, but I'm always more interested in what's to come. So along with meta archetypes as well as rogue concepts, I well be discussing future sets, mechanics and ideas that come along with them upon their release.

I am very passionate about the Pokemon tcg and I enjoy helping others along with bettering myself in the process.