Secret Deck: Mismagius/Terrakion

This deck reminds me of Claydol ex

Hi everyone!

This time of the year is very difficult to write deck articles because I’ve already covered almost every metagame deck and the new set is coming up very soon. However, I can’t yet analyze the set and cards of the new set because we don’t have scans of the set. I’ll be trying to get interviews in the future entries so even those, who don’t enjoy The Deck Out goes global entries, have something interesting to read.

Anyways, today’s t topic is the new secret deck that was revealed in the U.S. Regionals just yesterday. I always enjoy secret decks and I think this is a great deck because it’s not only a secret deck but also a lot of fun to play with. Solo-Terrakion is nowhere as fun to play with as this deck. If you haven’t yet heard or seen a list about, here is my take on it.

4x Misdreavus
2x Mismagius(UL)
2x Mismagius(UD)
2x Terrakion
1x Mewtwo EX
1x Spiritomb(TM)
1x Shaymin
2x Smeargle
=15

3x Professor Oak’s New Theory
4x Professor Juniper
4x N
3x Level Ball
3x Dual Ball
4x Junk Arm
3x Pokémon Catcher
2x Switch
2x Skyarrow Bridge
3x Exp. Share
2x Super Rod
=33

7 Psychic
2 Fighting
1 Rainbow
2 Prism Energy
=12





Strategy:


As you can see from the list, first of all this deck counters the main weaknesses of this format. Mismagius is a Psychic Type so it quite easily OHKOs Mewtwo EX. Also, there is of course Terrakion, which counters the most played deck – Zekrom/Eelektrik. This god-typing combined with Mismagius’ Poké-Power and Exp. Share guarantees a continuous energy acceleration. Just like almost every secret deck, this deck is designed against the most popular and dominating deck – not necessarily against the other random decks of the format.


Card Explanations



Mismagius (Attacker and Supporter)

First of all, in this evolution line we have something that we rarely see in our current metagame – A DECENT Basic Pokémon. Misdreavus(UD) is very nice since it lets you and your opponent draw 3 cards from your decks. It’s obvious – it’s a great starter but at the same time it puts pressure on your opponent because if he/she doesn’t get rid off his or her trainers or otherwise Poltergeist will do some heavy damage next turn.

Both Mismagius are equally important in this deck. The Poltergeist one works as the main attacker of the deck. Combined with the decks for N and Spiritomb(TR), you can easily get a Poltergeist of 90 to Mewtwo EX. Since Mewtwo EX is Psychic weak, only 3 trainers/Supporters/Staidums in your opponent’s hand will let you OHKO Mewtwo EX. After N or Spiritomb’s Power that-s very usual since most of the current decks run 30+ Trainers. Mismagius also only needs 2 energy for its attack, so it’s very energy efficient. One good thing to remember about Mismagius is that, even though it has very low HP of 80, it has a colorless resistance. And as you know, Tornadus is the other part of CMT so practically Mismagius single-handedly counters the whole CMT deck.

The other Mismagius, which has the Magical Trans ability is in the deck because the deck has no other energy acceleration. Magical Trans can be counted as energy acceleration thanks to Exp. Share because you can move almost any energy of the deck to any Pokémon of your deck. It really doesn’t matter, to who you attach Exp. Share. The most important thing is that you rescue the energy that would go to discard pile otherwise. This way you can also get surprise OHKOs with things like Terrakion or Mewtwo EX.


Terrakion

I don’t think that Terrakion needs a lot of introduction. Is THE best counter against Lighting type decks because it easily OHKOs everything from Eelektrik to Zekrom EX. It’s just too easy to energy accelerate 2 energy to Terrakion in this deck thanks to Exp. Share and Magical Trans power. In best case scenarios, Terrakion can score 2 OHKOs in a row against Eelektrik based decks.

Mewtwo EX

Well, Mewtwo EX is Mewtwo EX: Even though this deck doesn’t have DCEs, you can still easily energy accelerate two energy to Mewtwo EX thanks to Exp Share and Magical Trans. One would think that Mewtwo EX isn’t necessary in this deck because the deck already has Mismagius but that’s not true since Mewtwo EX is better in situations, where you NEED to OHKO your opponent. With Mismagius it’s sometimes risky to use Poltergeist because you can’t always guarantee that your opponent has enough trainers in his/her hand. However, with Mewtwo EX, you always have the OHKO ready.

Spiritomb (Triumphant)

Spiritomb is in the deck only for one purpose – give your opponent a lot of trainers into his/her hand, whenever you need to Poltergeist. It’s highly effective because it forces your opponent to draw 6 cards into his/her hand. All your opponent can do is hope that he/she doesn’t draw enough trainers for the OHKO.

Smeargle

Smeargle is a great card as we all know and it's very versatile in this deck. Thanks to Skyarrow Bridge it has free retreat. In this deck, Smeargle works not only as a starter and consistency adder, but also as a your opponent's hand checker. With Portrait you can check how many trainers your opponent has in his/her hand and that's great because then you don't have to blindly attack with Poltergeist.


Shaymin
The deck already has powers that can move energy around but Shaymin is always good. The deck has a lot of different attackers and you need the energy on your attackers just when you need them to get the KOs at the right time. Mismagius is a stage1 so it isn't as easy to get to play as Shaymin and that's why Shaymin is in this deck.

Professor Oak’s New Theory -  Professor Juniper

Even though, this is a secret deck – some things never change. And that’s draw engines of the deck. The only difference in this deck is that I’ve built it without Pokémon Collector but with Ball engine. I don’t know which the right way to go is, but Balls sounds good to me.

N

N would only be a part of the normal draw engine but thanks to Poltergeist, N has a deeper meaning in this deck.  In the early game, N works as a disruption to your opponent and lets you have great damage output with Polteregeist (just like Spiritomb’s Power). In the late game it works as a disruption just like in all decks. It’s even more versatile in this deck than in most decks.

Level Ball – Dual Ball

As said, I decided to go with Ball Engine for this deck. Level Ball searches for every single card of this deck excluding for Terrakion but that’s why Dual Ball is for. Mismagius’ low HP is a disadvantage but thanks to Level Ball, you can use it as an advantage.

Junk Arm

The Great Junk Arm

Pokémon Catcher – Switch

Nothing too surprising here.Pokémon Catcher is a must and Switch is even more must because of Terrakion’s horrifying retreat cost. You could probably drop one Pokémon Catcher because usually you want to hit the active Pokémon and add another Switch.

Skyarrow Bridge

This card pretty much only has one purpose in this deck - give a free retreat to Smeargle. You need a free retreat to Smeargle because you need to look in your opponent's hand a lot of times. Skyarrow Bridge is vital for this deck to work well.

Exp. Share

Just like in Solo-Terrakion, this is the card that makes the whole deck work. I have already explained pretty deeply the purpose of Exp. Share in this deck and how it combos with Magical Trans and with all the attackers this deck has. The deck has no other form of energy acceleration so getting Exp. Shares to the Pokémon, is a matter of life and death for this deck since most of this deck’s Pokémon attack with 2 energy. Manual attachments just aren’t enough.


Super Rod

The deck only has “2” of its each attacker and even only 1 Mewtwo EX, so Super Rod is just plain good in this deck. It can also help if Misdreavus get slaughtered in the early game due your slow start.


Energy

The energy lines are a bit experimental. I don’t like Rainbow energy at all because it inflicts damage. Even though you can get around the damage with Magical Trans, I like Prism Energy better. After all, Rainbow Energy is mainly designed for Terrakion and Prism Energy does an equally good job as Terrakion’s energy. The fun thing about Prism energy is that you can move it from a Basic Pokémon to Evolved Pokémon with Magical Trans but you can’t move it from Evolved Pokémon to Basic Pokémon because it’s Colorless. 12 is a good number in this deck and it usually guarantees you a T1 energy.



Tech Options

Since this deck is a secret deck, the list I showed you, isn’t 100% the same as the list everyone played in Regionals. Anyways, there are a lot of optional cards that can be put into the deck.

Seeker

I love Seeker and since it fits this deck, I decided to put it in. Seeker donks are always fun and your opponent rarely expect Seeker when he/she already is confused about the deck’s strategy. With Seeker you can also reuse Spiritomb’s power. Other scenario where Seeker can be very handy is against Durant if you happen to open with Terrakion. In normal situation, it would lead to your death because Terrakion just can’t cope with Durant due its huge retreat and energy cost but with Seeker, you can get it back to your hand.

Mr. Mime (CL)

Mr. Mime is a great addition for the deck because it can look at your opponent’s hand. That way you don’t have to blindly Poltergeist random damage even if you can't Portrait. Looking at your opponent’s hand also gives you a nice advantage because you know what to expect. Mr. Mime lets your opponent look at your hand as well but if you use its power before you use Juniper/PONT, your opponent won’t benefit anything from looking at your opponent’s hand.

Mew Prime

This whole deck can be built around Mew Prime and after that it would look more like MeesieMew with Mismagius in it. I like this build a lot more because it’s more versatile, a lot more effective and isn’t reliant on opening the game like Mew Prime variants usually are.

PlusPower

Adding 1-3 PlusPowers into this deck is a great idea because that way you can add the needed amount for Poltergeist or Terrakion’s attack. There are no decks, where playing a few PlusPowers isn’t prudent.

Eviolite

Eviolite is a nice addition if you happen to use a lot of Terrakions in your match-ups. A 150 HP Terrakion is very tough to kill and in some scenarios, one Eviolited Terrakion can easily take 2 prizes against Zekrom/Eelektrik. Eviolite can also be nice with Mewtwo EX with 2 energy because then your opponent’s Mewtwo EX needs 3 energy to OHKO it.
Tyrogue
I think Tyrogue can come in handy for taking early prizes against Zekrom/Eelektrik or Babies. You can also attach energy to other of your Pokémon while using Tyrogue and attaching energy in the early turns is very important for this deck in the first few turns.

Problems

Well, this deck isn’t the BDIF obviously so it has problems with several things. Let’ see what kind of problems this deck may face.

1) Terrakion starts

Just like any deck that doesn’t use Terrakion as their main attacker, Terrakion starts are horrible. This deck is no exception. You could try using only 1 Terrakion or adding a 3^rd Switch into the deck. Terrakion starts usually ruin also your Durant match-up because Terrakion is too underpowered against Durant.

2) Exp. Share drought

Just like in Solo-Terrakion, if you can’t get Exp. Shares in the early game, you’re in huge trouble because you won’t have time attaching 2 energy manually to your attackers. There is really nothing you can do to it. You could add 4^th Exp. Share to the deck but it’s very close to overkill because this deck doesn’t really need 4 Exp. Shares to keep up with the game thanks to Magical Trans.

3) Opponent

Like any secret deck, this deck hopes that your opponent hasn’t a clue what to do against it. However, if for some reason, your opponent knows what he/she is doing, it gets tricky for you. The resource management is probably the hardest thing in the current Pokémon TCG. And against this deck, it’s even more difficult and important. You have to be careful not to have too many trainers in your hand but at the same time, you can’t’ burn all your resources because you’ll in trouble after that. Playing prudently against this deck is difficult but possible. However, one thing is for sure – you need to practice it before going into the tournament.


Conclusion

I think this deck proves that even though the format seems time to time very dull and monotonic, there are still combos to be found. The card pool of the current format is very big at the moment and whenever there are only a pair of dominating decks, counter decks will always rise from nowhere to win them. The great thing about secret decks is that, they keep everyone guessing all the time and they are what makes this game really interesting. The deck did well in the tournament and even though it didn't win anything, it surely is competitive and interesting for the future as well.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this and that this deck was new to you! Thanks for reading and feel free to comment or ask if you have any questions about this deck!