When I released my first Eye on Japan –article I received a huge load of e-mails. (Thanks everyone for the e-mails!) Based on these e-mails I decided make an update on few decks I mentioned in my first Eye on Japan article. For this article I chose the deck that received the 2nd most feedback.
In this article I try to explain the main purpose of this deck and how it works in general. Many people wondered what the strategy of this deck was so I’ll reveal a list for it and explain it more in-depth. This deckscan be considered a rogue deck since this is so weird so I won’t use skeletons but only full decklist. I try to add few tech options as well. I hope you enjoy this analysis because I really enjoyed this deck.
Now into the decklist…
Pokemon:
4x Virizion (NV)
2x Kyurem(NV)
2x Reshiram(BW)
1x Zekrom(BW)
1x Terrakion (NV)
1x Bouffalant(BW)
1x Shaymin (UL)
= 12
Trainer:
4x Professor Juniper
4x Professor Oak’s New Theory
1x Cheren
4x Pokemon Collector
3x Pokegear 3.0
4x Pokemon Catcher
4x Switch
4x Junk arm
3x Eviolite (NV)
2x Super Scoop Up
1x Super Rod (NV)
=34
Energy:
6x Grass Energy
4x Rainbow Energy
4x Double Colorless Energy
= 14
I wanted to stay faithful for the original list of this deck. I understand why this made many people think “what the heck?” At first sight the deck seem to have zero logic but in fact it’s just a basic version of a 6-corner deck. The deck covers almost all weaknesses with its attackers.
Strategy
As I stated, this is a 6-corner deck which tries to abuse opponent’s weaknesses. Probably the strangest things in the list are random Kyurem, Reshiram and Zekrom. The deck only has 4 Rainbow Energy, why to run that many legendary Pokémon? That’s because of the Outrage. Outrageing becomes viable option because the deck has Eviolite. You aren’t able to OHKO these 130 HP Pokémons as long as they have Eviolite attached to them.
If we look at for example Zekrom deck, it has 2 options: hit 100 with Zekrom when the Pokémon will immediately OHKO Zekrom back, or hit 60 with Tornadus, the deck can just Catcher Pachi/Shaymin and get the easy prize. Of course, if the Tornadus hit Zekrom, Zekrom can Outrage it away with weakness.
This deck is all about high HP Basics that really gives the opponent headache. How is anyone supposed to get 6 prizes against a deck that has like 6 150 HP Pokémon? For many decks that surely is a problem but that’s what makes this deck a good deck.
As you can see, this deck isn’t all about only Kyurem, Reshiram and Zekrom but a huge part plays Virizion(NV). Virizion is the deck’s starter and the main attacker. I’ll get to what Virizion does later on but mainly it’s there to draw cards with its first attack and help you set-up and from the 2nd turn onwards it’s hitting some heavy damage with only 2 energy, forcing your opponent to use Catcher to minimize the damage Virizion is able to do.
The deck also has the “Avengers” Terrakion and Bouffalant, which are there simply to avenge their Koed Pokémon friends with a counter OHKO.
The deck tries to have an answer to everything and it pretty much does. This deck is a challenge to build properly but it’s even more difficult to play properly. This can be considered a real rogue because it will never see that much play because it’s so difficult.
Card Choices explanation
As I promised I’ll get inside the card choices a little more.
Virizion
Virizion was released in the Noble Victories set and is the main card in the deck. It’s the starter as I said earlier with its Double Draw attack. It’s rare to see cards like this have decent drawing attack and that’s probably the reason why Virizion is used as the main Pokémon of the deck. Double Draw needs only 1 Colorless so as long as you have energy in your hand you’re able to use it. Thanks to a huge amount of Switches in this deck, you are able to get Virizion Double Drawing T1 almost every game.
The second attack Leaf Wallop is decent but it isn’t that good because your opponent is able to use Catchers. Leaf Wallop's effect wears off if Virizion is benched via Catcher so your opponent may want to use Catcher just to minimize Leaf Wallop's damage. This is a good and a bad thing. It’s always not good if your attack powers loses steam but every time you are able to force your opponent use a Catcher “in vain”, it’s a small victory for you. The more they have to use Catchers in the early game, the more you are able to control the game in the late game with your Switches and high HP Pokémon. When anyone is playing the first time against this deck, the amount they do misplays is HUGE. But I think that’s what makes strange decks like this so good – it’s difficult to decide what to do against them.
Kyurem, Reshiram, Zekrom
These 3 are here for the same reason: Outrage. Why there are all of them? To cover as many weaknesses as possible. I love the ideology of Outrage with Eviolite. Eviolite makes these Pokémon impossible to get OHKOed and after one attack, these guys are able to OHKO almost everything even without Weakness. With Weakness they are able to OHKO everything with Outrage.
Their only weakness is that in order to attack with them, you need your opponent to hit you. Doing 20 with Outrage won't win you games. Your opponent may try to avoid hitting these Pokémon until they've burn their all Catchers and Junk Arms but eventually they have to hit these Pokémon and when they do, you're ready with your Outrage.
If your opponent tries to avoid attacking to the Legendary Dragons, you may even consider loading these Pokémons with Rainbow Energy. When you have Kyurem spreading as your active Pokémon, your opponent can't just continue Catchering - they must KO Kyurem. When they attack Kyurem, you can just move Rainbows away with Shaymin, attach DCE and hit Outrage.
The way you want to run these 3 Pokémons is up to you. You can change them as you like the way it’s better for your metagame. If your metagame has only Fire decks, running 3 Kyurems isn’t overkill, it’s just a metagame choice. There is no right or wrong way to run these 3 Pokémon in this deck.
Terrakion and Bouffalant
These two are the avengers of this deck. Whenever your Pokémon is KOed, it’s time for these to step up and take the prize. I admit that Bouffalant is my own addition but I thought it would be a great addition for this deck because it already runs 4 DCE and it gives this deck one type more, so why not.
At first sight, it might seem that Terrakion is just a horrible version of Bouffalant because it needs F energy for its Revenge and the damage it deals, is the same as Bouffalant’s. However, Terrakion has one HUGE asset compared to Bouffalant – its type. One thing that has to be remembered is that once this set is legal, Zekrom’s will also run Eviolites. 90 isn’t enough anymore to OHKO Zekrom after Bolt Strike and that’s where Terrakion comes in. Terrakion Vengeances Zekrom for 180 damage because of weakness – I guess that’s enough…
If Terrakion survives one turn longer it might even be able to use Land Crush on the second Zekrom that could cause great havoc on your opponent’s side. Terrakion isn’t a great card but it plays a huge role in this deck.
Shaymin (UL)
Well everyone should be familiar with this little guy. Its purpose in this deck is simple – add versatility and speed to the deck. Without Shaymin you would end up attacking with the same Pokémon until they’re KOed but Shaymin gives you the possibility to move energy around, Switch attackers and surprise your opponent with things like Terrakion. Shaymin enables you to attack with any Pokémon at the any point of the game. It’s one of the key cards of the deck. In fact Shaymin is so important in this deck that you may even consider putting in a second one.
Trainers
The trainers section includes some very ”japanese” kind of deck building.
Juniper, PONT, Cheren, Collector + Pokegear 3.0
Well, the draw seems very “western” excluding Pokegear amount. In the beginning this deck ran 4 Pokegears. After a little testing I decided to drop 1 Gear and add 1 Cheren. I understand why to play 4 Gears because it’s such a great card especially in the format, which is full of N but I settled for 3. In total, this deck has 20 draw cards, which is more than enough because you already have your own starter in Virizion. Lack of consistency surely isn’t this deck’s weakness.
Pokemon Catcher, Switch, Junk arm
This deck wants a full board control and it’s easily achievable with 4 of Catcher, Switch and Junk Arm. Your opponent has every time the Pokémon you want to attack as the active Pokémon and you have always the Pokémon you want to attack with as your active Pokémon. Maximizing these 3 cards guarantees it and is essential for this deck to work because the deck’s main strategy is to COUNTER the opponent’s Pokémon.
Eviolite
Eviolite, as mentioned before, is probably the card that makes this deck work. It takes the Outrage Pokémons away from the OHKO range of opponent’s Pokémon so they really can use Outrage for some serious damage. Eviolite is also a great card on every Pokémon of the deck because once you’ve found a good attacker against your opponent’s deck; you don’t want to lose it right away. Eviolite usually gives your Pokémon 1 turn more. Eviolite can be taken from the discard pile with Junk Arm and it means that your opponent has to use a huge load of resources against this deck to take all the 6 prizes. I’m pretty sure that some decks will run out of resources against this deck’s “tankness” thanks to Eviolite.
Super Scoop Up
Super Scoop adds some more annoying momentum to your side. Your opponent is finally able to KO your Terrakion next turn but you go and flip heads. There the 3 energy Terrakion ,with Eviolite goes to your hand while your opponent wants to turn the table around. SSU is a flip card – yes – but it’s a very good card especially in this deck when it hits heads. SSU is also great with Shaymin because that way you can use Shaymin more than once.
Super Rod
Super Rod’s function is pretty much the same as Super Scoop Up’s but Super Rod isn’t a precautionary card. There is a very big chance that once you lay down Shaymin, your opponent wants to take an easy prize from it. This always works in your favor because that way you can recycle Shaymin with Super Rod without flipping SSU. Super Rod is also a nice addition to this deck because it runs so many 1 copy and 2 copy cards. Super Rod is also recyclable with Junk Arm so you can use it more than once or just put in the discard pile with Juniper.
Energy
The deck’s energy is focused on Virizion and of course it runs 4 Rainbows and DCE to make the energy section as versatile as possible. However, there are changes that could be made. If you feel like you would like to attack for example with Kyurem 1-2 times to guarantee OHKOs, you can add 1-2 Water Energy. This change can be applied to any Pokémon you want to attack with and require only small adjustment to energy lines. The way you play energy depend on which Pokémon you feel to be the most important ones.
Teches
Energy Exchange Unit
This is a great tech to add some versatility. EEU may help you getting DCE when you need it any of your tech energies if you need any. It’s also reusable with Junk Arm so it might turn out to be very good in this particular deck.
Energy Search
I can’t believe what I’m writing. Yeah, if you plan to go all-out on teches, Energy Search may be even a good idea. IF you have lots of 1 copy energy, Energy Search is worth trying since its recycable with Junk Arm.
N
N works in every deck and 1 or 2 is always a good addition. This deck doesn’t NEED N because as long as your opponent starts taking prizes, you’re able to OHKO back. This deck shouldn’t have problems with quick decks so N isn’t a necessity in this deck.
Cobalion
One type more. And Cobalion is an awesome card. It’s a superb Kyurem or Beartic counter because it OHKOs them with only 2 energy. Iron Break may be annoying sometimes as well. Cobalion is probably one of the best additions this deck can fit in easily.
Revive
This deck has a lot of 1 copies of Basic Pokémon cards. That’s why Revive should be explanatory. If you feel like Super Rod isn’t enough, Revive could work together with it.
Tornadus
This deck works in all decks that run DCE and could be a good replacement in Bouffalant’s place as a colorless type Pokémon. Hurricane also works very well with the deck’s idea to load Pokémons you need to win the match-up you’re playing at that moment.
Deck in general
There is no point listing match-ups because the metagame for HGSS-NV is yet unknown. However, I’ll make a list of the pros and cons of this deck so you can get the full idea how it works and what are its strengths and weaknesses.
Pros:
- The deck is able to OHKO almost any Pokémon in the format
- Your opponent might run out of resources(this can especially happen to a deck like Reshiboar, Magneboar or Yanmega/Magnezone
- Versatility, this deck is very techable
- No autoloses in the current format
- Consistency
Cons:
- High retreat Pokémon make the deck slow
- Requires a lot of support trainers to cover its weakness (Switch etc.)
- Difficult to play
- Can be outplayed
- Uses mainly “counter” attackers
Future
This deck gets only better with the future sets. Cards like Skyarrow Bridge, Prism Energy and Shaymin EX are perfect for this deck. They make the deck more versatile and agile. If you don’t know what those cards to, check them from the Pokebeach.com. The more sets this format will get, the better and versatile this deck will become. I’m really looking forward for unique builds of players for this deck.
Conclusion
I don’t even try to make up a name for this deck. I can just call it 6 corners. I love the deck because it’s unique and it takes a good player to play it well. You can also build it so many ways that there are no 2 similar lists of this deck. You can fix it and tweak as much as you like and try to build it as good as you can against your own metagame.
I hope this article was inspirational for you and made you think about new things for your deck. If someone is interested in building the deck, I’m happy to help as well. If there was something I missed in this article or you didn’t understand something, feel free to ask! Any comments are appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
No Pichu?????????
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot to actually ask my questions about this deck.
ReplyDeleteWhile I see the point of the deck, why would you use Virizion in it ? It doesn't seem that great. Is drawing 2 cards really that important in the first turn ? Because otherwise, playing Tornadus instead seems better to me : you're doing 80 from the first time you use your attack, you're less vulnerable to Catcher, you can use a better energy type than grass (water so you can spread more easily with Kyurem, maybe) and you're moving your energies around. The only drawback is that you're more reliant on DCE...
Also, Energy search is great! Don't know if it would be a good idea in that deck (I guess it could be), but I just wanted to voice my support for that card since it has a reputation of being only for theme decks, whereas it's actually a good card in some decks.
I... thought I posted a comment before this one ? I guess I didn't. Doesn't matter, but it makes my "I forgot" seems weird.
ReplyDeleteI love these Japanese decks.
ReplyDeleteThey just seem so focused and unfussy.
I'm not sure about the Bouffalant. It doesn't really hit anything for Weakness and can't revenge KO a Dragon. After it has used Revenge, it's also fairly useless in the active position, unlike the other Pokemon which all have at least decent attacks.
~ Jak (baby mario)
Love this deck. I'll probably try it out one of the days of first weekend cities and hopefully stick with it! Thanks for doing this Eye on Japan BTW, I have a few Japanese friends, but cant get information as presice as this out of them.
ReplyDeleteSome people just want to put "Difficult to play" amongst the Pros.
ReplyDeleteI think Zekrom will soon be replaced by Cobalion, because zpsT and Yanmega/Magnezone should be played less, and Kyurem more.
Anonymous: Pichu isn't good here for 2 reasons:
ReplyDelete1) You don't need a full bench, you can search the Pokémon you need with Pokémon Collector. It isn't real countering if all your attacker are on the field. That way your opponent can even more easily outplay you and hit your weak points. You'e the one that is countering and in order to counter you need a surprise factor.
2) Pichu is just a free prize to your opponent and disrupts your game plan. The easier prizes you give your opponent, the less resources they need to use. As I stated one of this deck's strategies is to run your opponent out or resources.
Luby: Well the obvious reason for Virizion in the list is that I wanted to be faithful to the original list. I can understand why the deck played Virizion because as I said - you want to be vulnerable to Catcher. That way you'll have the edge in the late game. So it's a strategic decision. But you're correct about Tornadus and that's why I put it in the tech section. It's only weak point is that it only moves Basic energy so you can't move Rainbows from it. However, this deck can be tweaked a lot so everyone is welcome to try out any idea they get with this deck.
Baby Mario: Haha, that's why Bouffalant probably wasn't in the original list. But I thought it would be a nice addition because it can revenge OHKO things like RDL, which would autowin this deck as soon as it would hit the table. Thanks for your thoughts!
Henry: Great to here you like it! I can't any Japanese so I'm happy that I know people who can and that I got a perfect contact for me. It's been a pleasure doing this because I'm of course interested in this as well.
Zarmakuizz: I think Zekrom won't vanish anywhere, it will just modify itself a lot. Also, I'm seeing a brighter future for Magnezone based decks because of N but no one knows what's ging to happen in our metagame. We'll just have to wait and see.
I don't like the idea of using Tornadus. Tornadus can only move BASIC ENERGIES! You've only got 4 basic energies in deck, and that number will go down when prism energy is out. Tornadus? Not worth it.
ReplyDeleteRevive seems essential, at least 1 to junk arm for.
As ridiculous as it seems, I wonder how well Dodrio (UD) could work. Just a 1-1 line or 2-2 if you wanted to get rid of some of your switches. All your pokemon have a free retreat cost with Dodrio... but it is catcher bait. Possibly a good tech in a metagame with lots of trainer lock or at least less catcher.
Also, deck name;
ReplyDeleteLegendary Bashdown
Anonymous: Indeed, that's why Tornadus is considered as a tech. This deck has too many special energy and in the future it will run even more special energy. Also, I don't want to be too reliant on DCEs which would happen if I ran Tornadus.
ReplyDeleteDodrio would work if Catcher wasn't in the format. Dodrio - as every supporting Pokémon - is just a free prize to your opponent. And as said in the srtateg you don't want to give free prizes to your opponent. I also think that the aomount of Gothi will drop anyways thanks to Kyurem and this deck should have good match-ups against any Vileplume deck anyways. You would also need Communications to get Dodrio into play, which doesn't support the deck's main logic in any way.
Free retreating and low retreating is very nice so I think we'll just have to wait for Skyarrow Bridge to be released.
Mark: Haha, nice name.
Thanks for comments guys!
what do you do vs trainer lock? i played 6 games today vs mewlock and it was a 50-50. if i start with virizion it was pretty much a win because it beats mew easily. yanmega wasnt a big problem because of the dragons
ReplyDeletebtw where did you get your source? if you dont want to post your source nvm
bcc: I think that against the trainer lock the thanking ability of the decks Pokémon is pretty overwhelming. They can't OHKO your dragons but trainer lock slows you down very much. However, as you said Virizion is great against slow and low HP deck like. I also think this has pretty even match-up against all over the field. Match-up Mewlock vs. this may be one of the most interesting ones in the whole format because the decks differ from the metagame so much.
ReplyDeleteAs for my source, it's from my japanese friends' blog, which you can find from my blog's "friends" list on the right. He organizes tournaments once in a while and shares the list to his blog.
How would you handle ross with this deck? With ross moving damage how can you ko anything?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: That's a very good question. First of all, Kyurem is a killer against Ross deck. You can easily spread 180 damage with it because their bench is full almost all the time. ALso Donphan is weak to Kyurem so it hits 40 to it with Glaciate. Also, if you don't take the prize before you're ready to Glacaite and they haven't evolved their Solosis yet, you have won the game. They can't play the Solosis because Glaciate OHKOs it. It gives huge problems to Ross.deck However, the best part comes now: in fact, you OHKO everything in their deck. If Donphan hits for 60 or 90 to Kyurem you OHKO them withOutrage because they're weak to you. If they use Beartic instead of Donphan, you can always tech Cobalion. When they la down Entei&Suicune LEGEND, you OHKO them with Zekrom's Outrage or Bolt Strike.
ReplyDeleteRoss.dec is one of the easiest match-ups for this deck because this deck doesn't have to get the first prize and it can OHKO anything because of weakness.
Hope that helped!
the weakness of this deck are the special conditions?can i added a victini(V-blast) to the deck?
ReplyDeletehow do i play whit a oponent mirror 6 corners?
ReplyDeleteA couple ideas for this six corners deck. Both of which becomes way more viable once prism energy is out.
ReplyDeleteMismagius (UL) or KlingKlang (BW).
Mismagius can move psychic energies freely, meaning you can move your rainbow energies without have to shaymin them all at once. When prism energy is out this idea becomes that much more viable. But even in the meantime, if you were to tech in even just a couple psychic energy to the deck, you can move them around as basic colourless energy (for outrages) to help pay for attacks, whilst rainbow energy provides the appropriate energy for a Terrakion revenge or a Cobalion energy press. The problems I see with running Mismagius > Shaymin is it's low hp. It makes for easy catcher bait and removes your energy shifting ability. That said, it is more versatile than shaymin, and if they want to catcher your mismagius, that just means you can switch out a damaged attacker later and eventually seeker it up or SSU. Max potion also becomes a viable option as mismagius can move all the energy off a pokemon, max potion it, then move the energy back on.
2nd option: KlingKlang. This one really hurts the spirit of six corners as it's a stage 2, requiring a candy to be consistent. It also focuses metals into steel, which is good if you want to run cobalion. The big advantage of klingklang is that it isn't really catcher bait against most decks. A natural 140 HP makes the gear grinder hard to 1hko. But unfortunately even a Typhlosion can 1HKO Klingklang (without special metal energies), no reshiram required. Still, Klingklang in a omre Cobalion-focused 6 corners could be techable. I'd probably go with mismagius personally.
And as I mentioned, prism energy just makes this idea even more viable.
Anonymous: Yeah, you can add anything there if you come up with a good tech that this deck doesn't counter. If you're having problems with a card like Vanilluxe you might consider running Unown CURE.
ReplyDeleteMauro: That's a very difficult match-up. I think there isn't one right way to play it and it only means that this deck is so great. It can be used with a many different tactics and you can compe up victorious any way. You have to just adjust to how your opponent plays the deck and counter his/her playstyle.
Crawdaunt: Mismagius ie very nice after Prism Energy but it messes with the point of this deck (no free prizes). Mismagius is too easy to Catcher and just KO with a Zekrom or Reshiram. There is no stopping Catcher in this metagame unless you run Vileplume so in my opinion running either Mismagius or Klingklang is a waste of space. If you want to tech this deck I would suggest try to find basic teches for this deck. The deck changes so much if you start running even 1-1 lines of stage1 in it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
What about Archeops, I found it inconsistent but a friend suggested it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: I can easily say that it's not worth the space. Even though it stops evolving you don't really need it, as I have said many times- this deck doesn't want to give any free prizes. And Archeon/Archeops is nothing but a free prize.
ReplyDeletehello and thank you very very much!!
ReplyDeletei build the six corners deck (modified) and i win the city championship in argentina and qualified to the national!! you inspired me!
this is my deck:
3X VIRIZION
2X sHAYMIN
2X RESHIRAM
1X ZEKROM
1X TERRAKION
1X TORNADUS
1X COBALION
1X KYUREM
12
TRAINERS
1X PROFESSOR JUNIPER
1X CHEREN
4X PROFESSOR OAKS NEW THEORY
4X POKEMON COLLECTOR
2X POKEGEAR 3.0
3X POKEMON CATCHER
4X SWITCH
4X JUNK ARM
4X EVIOLITE
2X SEEKER
1X SUPER ROD
1X ENERGY EXCHANGER
1X ENERGY SEARCH
32
ENERGY
3X GRASS ENERGY
4X RAIMBOW ENERGY
4X DOUBLE COLORLESS ENERGY
1X FIGHT ENERGY
1X FIRE ENERGY
1X LIGHTNING ENERGY
1X METAL ENERGY(BASIC)
1X WATER ENRGY
16
I play
6 CORNERS VS RESHIBOAR (2-0)
VS GRASS SPECIALS CONDITONS (2-0)
VS ZEKROM/PACHI/SHAYMIN (2-1)(BEST STANDING FINAL)
VS COBALION/BEARTIC (2-0)
VS MACHAMP PRIME/TERRAKION/LANDORUS (2-0)
THE DIFERENTS TIPES OF ENERGY WORKS FOR LOST REMOVER AND SCIZOR PRIME DECKS
thank^s for all and give me your opinion
Mauro: Great to hear how well you did with your deck! Nice to see that you've also modified your deck - it's always great to see different versions of this deck. I think the list looks very good and it must be if you did so well in your tournament!
ReplyDeleteI can see Mewtwo EX being big since Gothitelle seems to be getting bigger. I keep having problems with the early Gothitelle. If I can catcher the Gothitelle early no problems, but they have no problems using Rare Candy to evolve their Reuniclus or Serperior once Gothitelle is out.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Once Mewtwo EX is out, it's a must tech for 6 corners even without Gothitelle being around. Mewtwo EX is its own worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
ReplyDeleteim running this deck at a tournament tomorow thanks for the advice on how to play it i dont have "alot" of playtesting but i made the list consistent i LOVe the idea of this deck it kinda reminds me of luxchomp with so many revenge killers and diferent types and such
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Always glad to hear that! It really resembles LuxChomp quite a bit sometimes.
ReplyDeletejust got back and only lossed to ross and 5 energy absol start my first tourney with it once i get a well tested lis tit will do awsome cant wait for the assist form mewtwo ex in the deck
ReplyDeleteWhoa, great job! In fact, my next entry will be about 6 corners!
Delete