Burning Love

Hello and welcome back to The Deck Out!

Today – as promised – I will look into the Reshiram/Typhlosion deck and try to point of views that haven’t been discussed in public that much. I will also reveal my this year’s Worlds’ list, which with I went 4-3 in the main event (horrible, I know) and ended in the 34^th place. The whole Finnish team played (excluding one player in Seniors) this deck too and got a win ratio of 1.4 in Masters. So without further delay, let’s get into the deck.

Pokemon:

4x Cyndaquil(HS)
2x Quilava
4x Typhlosion Prime
2x Vulpix
2x Ninetales
4x Reshiram
1x Cleffa
=19

Trainer:

4x Pokémon Collector
4x Pokémon Communication
4x Rare Candy
2x PlusPower
3x Pokémon Catcher
4x Junk Arm
1x Switch
Xx Draw Supporters
=22

Energy:

12x Fire Energy
=12


So here we have a skeleton list that you have probably seen about 856384237 times before. Typhlosion/Reshiram was the most played deck in Masters in the World Championships so if you have played the HGSS-on format, there is no way you haven’t played against this deck.

Strategy:

Well, if you for some reason, DON’T know the strategy of this deck, here it is briefly. Set-up 2 Typhlosions with Ninetales or with draw supporters. Once you have 2 Typhlosions on your bench you can hit at least 120 with Reshiram every turn with Typhlosion’s Afterburne power. After the set-up you probably just use Roast Reveal to draw the cards you need and go with hitting with Reshiram until you have drawn 6 prizes but in some situations you might need to attack with Typhlosion to discard energies(like against Magnezone Prime). It’s the easiest and cheapest competitive deck in the format.


Ninetales

My main concern in this deck is Ninetales. Usually you set-up so fast with just Draw Supporters that you may be using only 0-2 Roast Reveals in the whole game even though you get T3 Ninetales. So, usually, in my opinion, it’s useless. Thankfully there are ways for a deck builder to build Reshiram/Typhlosion because of the space Ninetales takes/opens.


2-2 Ninetales

This was the first line of Ninetales used in Typhlosion/Reshiram and it soon became staple all around the world. I never liked it, however Ninetales were an insurance for consistency because there were only Reversal that could bring Ninetales as an active Pokémon and there were almost none playable Pokémon in format that could OHKO it easily.

So, Ninetales was easy and safe back then but now we have Catcher and all kinds of decks that can easily hit 90 damage. In my opinion 2-2 Ninetales is just a waste of space in the deck nowadays. Once you lay Vulpix on the bench, you just gave them a free prize with only 60 HP. Because there is Catcher, you can’t afford it.

1-1 Ninetales

This is a step towards Ninetalesless deck (see what I did there – lol). The point of 1-1 Ninetales is that Ninetales isn’t your main goal while set-upping. You can play it if you have resources for it but you don’t use your set-up resources to get it to play. In this case Typhlosion is your main priority. 1-1 Ninetales gives more room for draw cards in your deck and allows your deck to work more through trainer set-up. In my opinion because of Catcher 1-1 Ninetales is almost as useless as 2-2 Ninetales in your deck.

2-0/1-0 Vulpix

Yes, you read correctly - 2 Vulpix without Ninetales or 1 Vulpix without Ninetales. Why on earth would you play Vulpix in your deck if you don’t have Ninetales? It’s simple, as bait. When you play the Vulpix on your bench some player’s will automatically target your Vulpix with Catcher because they live in the illusion that you can’t set-up without Ninetales or without Ninetales will be slower while the truth is that you only have 1 Vulpix in your deck. This may sound like a “too” fancy play but in fact it isn’t – it’s just mindgaming your opponent. 1 Vulpix in your deck takes almost no room and it also raises the possibility to start with something else than a lone Cleffa or Reshiram(which you don’t always want to open with).

0-0 Ninetales

Yes, Reshiram/Typhlosion without NInetales. If you haven’t tried it, it may sound awkward but it isn’t. It became almost instantly popular in Finland and I heard it’s also a very popular way to play this deck in Japan. My Worlds deck didn’t play a single Vulpix or Ninetales and I lost a mirror in the 2-0 situation to person who also played Typhlosion/Reshiram without Ninetales.

Taking Ninetales off your deck, you got easily 4 open rooms for your deck. This can be used in many ways, to put more draw cards or to put teches. If you add 4 draw supporters, you understand that Ninetales isn’t needed in this deck. Supporter engine also helps you to recover from Judge easier. Now, when Catcher is released I think this will become is the staple way to play this deck. You will never get a chance to play Ninetales on your bench. If I was playing this deck in the tournament, I would probably go with 1-0 or 0-0 Ninetales line. In the Reversal era Ninetales was risky but in the Catcher era it’s just an easy prize and waste of space in your deck.


My Worlds deck

So I didn’t play Ninetales in the Worlds. What I did play then? Well, here’s my list.

Pokemon:

1x Manaphy
1x Cleffa
4x Cyndaquil
2x Quilava
4x Typhlosion Prime
3x Reshiram
=15

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
3x Sage’s Training
4x Pokémon Collector
2x Pokegear 3.0
4x Pokémon Communication
1x Copycat
4x Junk Arm
4x Rare Candy
1x Pokemon Reversal
1x Pokemon Circulator
1x Switch
1x Revive
2x PlusPower
1x Lost Remover
=33

Energy:

3x Rescue Energy
9x Fire Energy
=12




As you can see I love consistency. There was only 1 game in the tournament where I hadn’t chance to use T1 Collector. 2 Pokegears and 4 Collector guarantees it almost as well as Holon Transceiver back in the times. I also had only 3 Reshirams because I didn’t want to start with and I had enough recover cards (Rescue’s and Revive). I also hate flips like Reversal so I decided I would play the minimum amount of Reversals that is prudent.

One last card on the final evening that was added was Lost Remover. It’s simply a great card with Typhlosion and it’s in random situations fantastic. Thank to Lost Remover I can fairly say that Stage1 decks are the easiest match-up for this. They can’t keep drawing DCEs if you continuously use Lost Remover/Flare Destroy. Once their Zoroarks need 2 energies to hit Foul Play, you have the game.


The hindsight

What would I have done differently? Well the only card that I wasn’t sure of was Lost Remover, which proved to be useful in 2 matches. I don’t if they made me win the games but they gave me an auto wins in 2 games so yeah. I would have probably won my 4^th game if I had a Defender but nowadays when there is Catcher, Defender is usually useless because there is no need to hit the Pokémon with Defender.
If I use this deck as a model for Ninetalesless list of Reshiram/Typhlosion for HGSS-EP the list would look like this.


Pokemon:

1x Cleffa
4x Cyndaquil
2x Quilava
4x Typhlosion Prime
3x Reshiram
=14

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
3x Sage’s Training
4x Pokémon Collector
2x Pokegear 3.0
4x Pokémon Communication
1x Copycat
1x Black Belt
3x Junk Arm
4x Rare Candy
3x Pokémon Catcher
1x Switch
1x Revive
3x PlusPower
=34

Energy:

2x Rescue Energy
10x Fire Energy
=12



As you can see there are a few fixes. First, I replaced Circulator, Reversal and Manaphy with 3 Catchers. Catchers are a must in this format and Reshiram benefits very much of them (more than most decks).  Also, I changed the Lost Remover for a 3^rd PlusPower. Now, because you have Catcher, more Pluspowers lets you get rid of your opponent’s Magnezone Primes easier. Pluspowers are also great against Max Potion/Donphan decks.

 I also changed energies to 2 Rescues and 10 Fire because of Catcher as well. Your opponent will try to take out your Typhlosions and there won’t be a match where 3 Reshiram, 1 Revive, 2 Rescues and 3 Junk Arms wouldn’t be enough to get a new Reshiram every turn.

The last add is Black Belt which is necessary against decks that run trainer lock and Reuniclus(Ross’ deck and Gothitelle). Black Belt makes Reshiram hit 160 for one turn (even while under trainer lock), which OHKOs anything that you may face (Gothitelle, Donphan even Samurott). To use Black Belt you just have to let the trainer lock decks set-up and keep your cool. They will set-up slowly without Twins so be sure to Candy your Typhlosions as soon as possible, before the trainer lock begins. The only problem with Black Belt is that you don’t always draw it when you need. You may decide not run it or run additional Twins to get it when you really need it.



Pokegear 3.0.

I would like to look a bit closer on Pokegear 3.0. because it works not only in Reshiram/Typhlosion without Ninetales, but in every deck of the format. If you love consistency over teches in decks - like I do - you should try this card out. In the current format it’s good but just wait until N arrives to change the game. There is only 2 good ways out of 1 card N – Magnezone Prime and drawing a good draw supporter. But if you have Pokegear in your deck and you have played it (as you probably have when you have 1 prize left) it’s enough to draw a Junk Arm from the N to get back to the game. Pokegear is searchable with Junk Arm from discard pile and you can get back to the game by playing Pokegear even after N. If you have cards like Juniper in your deck in the late game and are able to hit it with the Pokegear after your opponent’s N, it probably seals the game for you. If you haven’t yet tried it you’d better start Pokegearing your decks at least after N is released!


Other things to consider

Well, this could be under “tech” headline also.

First we have the famous Tornadus. This card has been suggested in many places for Typhlosion/Reshiram because it hits the enough 80 and “saves” energy with Hurricane. Tornadus would be good in the early game combined with Catcher but it would be best against things with Colorless weakness like RDL If you want to only counter RDL you can consider Bouffalant (Revenge) as well. The negative thing about Bouffalant is that its retreat cost is 2, which is horrible. That’s why Tornadus could be considered as a viable tech – it has only 1 retreat.

The third card to consider is Zoroark. Zoroark can counter RDL as well but the great thing about it is that it works as a Reshiram and Zekrom counter as well. I saw a few Japanese players playing this in the Grinder and I figured it was against Emboar/Reshiram. Zoroark is great also against things like Magnezone Prime because you already have great energy acceleration in your deck and able to lost zone energies.





Match-ups

Let me go through the match-ups briefly.

Favorable
Mew/Vileplume/Teches
Zekrom/Tornadus

Slightly Favorable
Magnezone/Yanmega

Even
Magneboar
Stage1 (from even to slightly favorable)
Gothitelle/Reuniclus

Slightly Unfavorable

Unfavorable
Reshiboar


As you can see from match-ups, ReshiPlosion really has not very many bad match-ups. Mew/Vileplume decks will be very easy because they don’t have a good counter against you. They can try to sludge drag your Typhlosions but if you play your energies wisely, you don’t have to worry about that.

Zekrom/Tornadus’s match-up is decided by first few turns but if/when you get going they will probably run out of resources. You’re able to OHKO them every time you after the set-up and their energy-acceleration isn’t sufficient if they aren’t already 3-4 prizes ahead.

Stage1 decks’ match-up depends on what you’re playing against. The most difficult match-up for ReshiPlosion is Cinccino/Zoroark/Yanmega because they are faster and are able to probably OHKO your Reshirams every game. You have to come attacking with Typhlosions in this game but if they get a good start and draw everything it’s difficult. As, for Donphan varients – they’re a lot easier. Zoroark is their best bet against you and because you have Catcher, it’s easy to eliminate the Zoroark threat from the Bench.

Against Gothitelle/Reuniclus you just need to play smart, slow and wait for the Black Belt. If you’re up for more aggressive playing, you may try to go with Flare Destroy to run them out of resources but going ahead against a Twins deck is always risky. You have to play well to win this match-up, there is no shortcuts for the victory.

As for the worst match-up – it’s easily Reshiboar. They will be setting up at least as fast as you and you need a PlusPower every time to OHKO the Reshiram. Yes – with the list in this blog it may be possible but you must also be faster if you’re going to win the Reshiram race. You may try to go the Catchering way against Emboar and just hope they don’t have Switch in their hand but good Reshiboars always run enough of Switch to get rid of the Catcher’s effect. It’s a bad match-up in theory and in practice.




Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways to play Typhlosion/Reshiram. The best way to figure out what fits your style the best, is to the test all versions because theorymon won’t lead you anywhere. Reshiram/Typhlosion is a good and cheap deck that anyone can learn to play. If you want to have decent results in the tournaments with a low budget, Typhlosion/Reshiram is a good way to go.

Typhlosion/Reshiram will probably also be a good deck throughout the season so if you want to play the same deck the whole season Typhlosion/Reshiram is a good option. I love the deck’s simplicity and consistency so I can say I’m a huge fan of this deck. It has almost none total autolosses and it has 50-50 match-ups across the whole field.


That’s it for today! If you want me to cover more decks in the "match-ups" section, please let me know because that's only my opinion about today's metagame. Hope you enjoyed this and please leave feedback and comments! Thank you for reading.



// Be back to The Deck Out next Tuesday when it’s a time for my take on Magnezone/Yanmega!


P.S. Remember that I live in the time zone GMT +2 so in the U.S.A my blog will usually be released on Monday or Thursday because of the time difference.