Thursday, February 28, 2013

Eye on Japan: The metagame



BCIF! (you heard it here first)

Hello everyone!


I bombarded you with Eye on Japan articles last month, but that’s what you wanted! You better be careful what you wish for, haha. Anyways, this is my last Eye on Japan –article in a while (unless something worth mention happens in Japan) as I’ve pretty much depleted all the experience and information I got on my trip to Tokyo and I want to do well at Nationals.

Today I’ll be looking deeper on the current metagame of Japan. We all know that Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX is the biggest deck in Japan at the moment, but what about the other top tier contenders? I will look at the decks that don’t exist in our format yet, but I’ll also mention the current decks that we have and are still thriving in Japan as well. This should be interesting for anyone who is already looking at the future and for our upcoming Nationals’ and Worlds’ format.

Lots of interesting decklists incoming, so be prepared! And in case you don't know what the cards do, remember to check out the translations from:





Exeggcute/Weavile/Electrode

This is by far my favorite deck of the upcoming set, because it’s just so much fun to play with!

Pokémon:

4x Exeggcute (BW8)
4x Sneasel (BW8)
4x Weavile (BW8)
2x Voltorb (BW8)
4x Electrode (BW8)
1x Audino
=19


Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
2x N
4x Cheren
3x Colress
4x Level Ball
1x Ultra Ball
1x Computer Search
3x Pokémon Catcher
4x Dark Patch
4x Super Rod
=30


Energy:

11x Darkness Energy
=11


Strategy and the most important card choices

This will probably be my favorite deck of the upcoming metagame. It’s simply fun, doesn’t require EX-Pokémon AND uses Electrode. I love all these things in the deck. As you can see, the strategy of the deck is very simple. Get those Exeggcutes to the discard pile as soon as possible and start attacking with Weavile hopefully in T2. Thanks to Exeggcutes’ Ability, you’re able to hit at least 120 every turn. The question is how often can you hit for the needed 180, because you will be running a few prizes behind against the quickest decks of the format. Let’s take a quick look at the most important cards of the deck.

Sneasel

The new Sneasel is very important for this deck. Why? It has 70HP! And this can and will save in many situations. Hitting 60 in the upcoming will be just too common and easy due to Landorus EX and Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX.

Super Rod

Obviosuly you will be discarding a lot of Pokémon cards with Weavile, so you will need something to get it back with. Without Super Rod, you would be too often run out of Pokémon and you really don’t have any other choise, but to run 4 Super Rods in the deck.

Electrode and Cheren

Electrode is a poor man’s Claydol and to be honest, I believed I would never see a deck where it would function. But when I saw the Japanese list and tested the deck, I understood that Electrode is perfect for this deck. It increases your basic count, it makes your deck more consistent and it increases your deck’s overall Pokémon count. When combined with Cheren, Electrode is just like a Juniper, in the best case scenario you’ll be drawing 7 cards each turn, which is huge!





Absol/Sableye/Darkrai EX

Pokémon:

4x Sableye
4x Darkrai EX
1x Keldeo EX
2x Absol (BW8)
=11


Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x N
2x Bianca
2x Colress
1x Random Receiver
4x Ultra Ball
1x Computer Search
4x Dark Patch
4x Pokémon Catcher
3x Enhanced Hammer
2x Eviolite
4x Poison Hypnotic Beam
2x Virbank City Gym
=37


Energy:

12x Darkness Energy
=12


Differences?

As you can see, this deck is a pretty normal Darkrai EX deck, but it has Absol in it. As you can see from Absol’s translation, it’s only good if your opponent has a big bench, but as decks such as Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX, Eelektrik and Blastoise are popular in Japan, their bench is often very full! Absol is a non-EX Pokémon, which can hit 150 damage with only 2 energy! (With Dark Claw and Virbank City Gym). It’s really a force to reckon with and I’m sure that it will be a very decent Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX counter. Also, notice the 3 Enhanced Hammers, which really show against what deck is this deck designed against.



Kyurem/Deoxys EX/Keldeo EX

Pokémon:

4x Kyurem (BW8)
3x Deoxys EX (BW8)
2x Keldeo EX
1x Lugia EX
=10

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
2x N
2x Bianca
3x Colress
3x Skyla
2x Plasma Ball
2x Ultra Ball
1x Scramble Switch
4x Colress Machine
4x Pokémon Catcher
4x Hypnotoxic Beam
2x Virbank City Gym
2x Float Stone
2x Enhanced Hammer
=37


Energy:

4x Plasma Energy
3x Prism Energy
6x Water Energy
=13


Strategy and the most important card choices

As you can see, this deck is pretty much just a non-EX version of Thundurus EX, which makes it more difficult to win, because there are really no easy prizes, BUT it also makes the deck so much weaker against all kind of Hammers. A pure Hammerspam is enough to beat this deck, which of course makes it a risky play. However, in a format full of Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX I see a spot for this deck, because it doesn’t run any EXs and it’s a notable advantage.

Water Energy

The invulnerability to Enhanced Hammers is a must if this deck wants to win anything serious. Since you don’t run Thundurus EX, you can’t afford running Special energy-only. However, you probably don’t want to rely on the Water energy only, because Deoxys EX can work as a great attacker from time to time.


Enhanced Hammer

Since this deck doesn’t run Thundurus EX, it has space. To fill that space, you want Enhanced Hammers to counter the Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX match-up!To fill that space, you want Enhanced Hammers to counter the Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX match-up.  In my opinion, this deck could easily run 4 Enhanced Hammers if it had enough space.


Keldeo EX/Float Stone


You have lots of Pokémon with a retreat cost of more than 1, so you need this combo in order to keep your deck mobile. It’s far easier to play these cards in this deck than e.g. in Thundurus EX/Deoxys EX, because this deck is more straightforward and has more space on the bench as well. This combo will also become a staple for many and many more decks, because it saves you space and no deck has to worry about retreating after this.  



The decks we are already familiar with



Blastoise/Black Kyurem EX


Pokémon:


4x Squirtle
4x Blastoise
3x Keldeo EX
2x Black Kyurem EX
=13

Trainer:

4x Professor Juniper
4x Skyla
3x N
2x Colress
2x Tropical Beach
4x Ultra Ball
1x Heavy Ball
1x Crystal Wall
4x Rare Candy
3x Pokémon Catcher
3x Super Energy Retrieval
1x Energy Retrieval
=32

Energy:

13x Water Energy
2x Lighting Energy
=14


What’s new?

This is pretty much a copy of the current format’s Blastoise, but with two exceptions. For, there is no Computer Search or Dowsing Machine. This list was crazy enough to play Crystal Wall. The reason? With the help of Super Energy Retrieval, which really makes Blastoise work SO much better, you are able to energy accelerate Black Kyurem EX every single turn. With 300HP Pokémon, which is able to hit 200 every, who can stop you? No one, if you get the set-up.



Rayquaza EX/Eelektrik


Pokémon


2x Victini EX
2x Rayquaza EX
1x Rayquaza
1x Mewtwo EX
4x Tynamo
4x Eelektrik
1x Ditto
=15

Trainer

4x Professor Juniper
4x N
3x Bianca
2x Colress
1x Skyla
4x Ultra Ball
1x Level Ball
1x Computer Search
2x Skyarrow Bridge
4x Switch
4x Pokémon Catcher
1x Super Rod
1x Max Potion
=33



Energy

5x Fire Energy
8x Lighting Energy
=12


What’s new?
 
Some of you may be familiar with this deck, because I introduced in the SixPrizes UG a few weeks back. However, as it is from Japan, I had to show it here as well. I love it, because in my opinion it does what I thought would never be possible – this list makes RayEels viable even in MY opinion. I have always hated all Eelektrik decks, but thanks to Victini EX, you are able to energy accelerate your attackers while set upping your Eelektriks.

Your opponent must concentrate their early game on the Victini EX or otherwise, they will be OHKOed very quickly by Rayquaza EX. Granted, Victini EX is too easy prizes, but the cost you have to pay for getting a set-up and your Rayquaza EXs ready for attack is much more than the two prizes you have to lose, so it’s a very good trade for you.






Conclusion

What I thought was especially interesting in these lists, was that Ghetsis saw no play. After I saw that Japanese players don’t play Ghetsis, I started testing it. And quickly, I came to the same conclusion as the Japanese. It’s just a mediocre disruption card, but it really can’t even be counted as draw card. In most cases, if your opponent is going to use Juniper the next turn, you’ll just help them by shuffling their Catchers to the deck!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this entry even though I didn’t get that deep to the decklists. What I wanted to do with this entry was just to introduce the interesting concepts of the upcoming metagame. I still think that even though these are fun concepts, the western metagame won’t be affected that much by these decklists. I myself have a few nice concepts ready for Nationals and Worlds, but they are still in the prototpye process, and I’m also sure that other western players also have cool rogues coming from the BW8.

Feel free to comment or ask anything! Thanks for reading!



















34 comments:

  1. Esa, thanks for posting the Victini EX Rayquaza Eels deck in this article. I believe it is a legit deck but somehow people are giving it a cold shoulder. I found out that running three Victini EX and 6 Fire Energy makes the deck more consistent. Zekrom should also be considered an option to baby Rayquaza because of the popularity of Tornadus EX in the meta game and the possibility of any lurking Lugia EXes. Victni V-Create should also be considered in the list becaue of the expected rise of Plasmaklang decks. Good article Esa! Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry to be too inquisitive, but could you tell me and all the other deckout readers how the specific decks have done. Are they all equally popular and winning the same amount or does one deck come out as more popular than another. And how large is the difference between these and Thundurus/Deoxys.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That Weavile/Exeggcute deck looks incredibly fun to play. That is the first thing I'm testing for Nationals this year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But please, don't be like Esa... put some Plasma's Ball in there...

      Delete
    2. and more N... your Pokemon have very low HP... you could start lossing the match, and you have Electrode... and if you N to one yourself anyway you can hit 150 that turn...

      Delete
  4. Esa, why isn't there wartole in the kyurem/deoxys ex/ keldeo ex list if there is a blastoise in it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If u face gothitelle before evolving to blastoise, without wartotle ur dead

      Delete
  5. Where is Klinklang :o

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just some typo I noticed...
    1. in the enhanced hammer section of Kyurem/Deoxys/Keldeo list
    2. the 13 energies total of Rayquaza/Eelektrik list

    ignoring that typo, I found the article great! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mentions the kyurem deck "doesn't have any exs" then immediately reviews why keldeo is in there. -_-

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think Ghetsis will be far more disruptive in our metagame than the Japanese; I will be utterly shocked if a hard control deck doesn't make a comeback, either based around Accelgor, or something new like Plasma Amoonguss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There actually is a control deck that pretty much bases around Ghetsis. It plays amoongus, sableye, Mew EX, and watchog from Emerging Powers.

      Delete
  9. "When combined with Cheren, Electrode is just like a Juniper, in the best case scenario you’ll be drawing 7 cards each turn"

    Assuming you get the cheren off the electrode every turn. Also, 4 cards - Cheren +3 cards = 6. So best case scenario this card combo is a bianca that takes a total of three cards and an empty hand with a ton of vulnerable pokemon. Just like the Garchomp altaria you hyped so hard. Players will slowly realize the same fate of said deck. Testing proves most. All these articles do is raise the prices of cards extremely high for no reason at all. You sit behind your computer and try to play pokemon master with your info on stuff that should be extremely obvious to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1 card hand: play juniper, draw 7. Or play cheren, draw 3, play down 3 cards, use electrode for 4.

      Delete
    2. amazingly "Amonymous" you read the article that you find "All these articles do is raise the prices of cards extremely high for no reason at all. You sit behind your computer and try to play pokemon master with your info on stuff that should be extremely obvious to you." lIke Esa is a this big Ebay OZ LOL

      Esa as a ton of experenice and sees the formats in other countries first hand and as such is simply sharing that information with us. By no means is he saying "my way or the highway"

      Take a deep breath and relax, its gonna be ok if you dont read the postings or use in of his suggestions.

      Esa thanks for keeping us informed

      Delete
  10. Absol can hit for 170 with two energy, because his attack says: this attack does 20 damage plus 20 more damage for each Pokemon on your opponent´s bench. So, if your opponent has 5 Pokemon benched, you do 20 + 20*5 = 120 dmg. If Absol has Dark Claw attached to it, you do 120+20=140dmg, and with Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym you do 140+10+20=170 dmg in the best scenario if your opponent doesn´t have Eviolite attached to his/her active Pokemon, enough to knock out even Pokemon-EX with 170 HP like e.g. Rayquaza-EX and Mewtwo-EX!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have a similar list on Exeggcute/Weavile/Electrode (WEE):

    Pokémon:

    4x Exeggcute (BW8)
    4x Sneasel (BW8)
    4x Weavile (BW8)
    2x Voltorb (BW8)
    2x Electrode (BW8)
    4x Deoxys EX (BW8)

    =20


    Trainer:

    4x Professor Juniper
    3x N
    4x Cheren
    1x Colress
    4x Level Ball
    2x Plasma Ball
    1x Dowsing Machine
    3x Pokémon Catcher
    3x Dark Patch
    3x Super Rod
    2x Dark Claw
    =30


    Energy:

    10x Darkness Energy
    =10

    ReplyDelete
  12. i like the above list more than the one that's given, the trainer line just seems more comforting...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Why 2 Voltorb and 4 Electrode?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You get more Pokemon to discard with Weavile without having to risk more basics, but you still get to evolve Electrodes for Charge Draws.

      Delete
  14. articuno/ garbodor with ghetsis ftw

    ReplyDelete
  15. Those lists are just to shut up us LOL who is gonna use Switch with BW8 Float Stone? Noob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because sometimws switching is better than retreating, especially in quaza(w/o keldeo).

      Delete
    2. Idk man switch still seems better then float stone in a lot of decks that have extra attachments to benched.

      Delete
    3. and have you considered being paralyzed by a control deck or something that makes you unable to retreat? (hey, snorlax's block). well, we have switch, and you can switch twice now (one retreat, one switch) for things like ray eels.

      Delete
  16. These are just sample lists, don't be so harsh, Esa is doing a great job bringing us SOME ideas... do of your list what works you best, don't expect perfect lists over the web, because there just no such thing... Keep the good work Esa... I'm expecting great out of the box ideas for BW8

    ReplyDelete
  17. If I'm correct, these lists are card by card same what Esa have got from Japan. At least a few of them.

    With Float Stone you can only retreat once, with Switch you could switch and then retreat if necessary.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It would be nice to have the translations :P

    ReplyDelete
  19. Did you see what the japanese did if they started with exeggcute? If you start with him and your opponent is smart and doesn't kill it, that's 30 less damage per turn which could be game breaking.

    What would you do? how do you get around that?

    ReplyDelete
  20. it also seems to autoloss to a deck that goes first and leads with landorus...

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm feeling that the Weavile deck seems like a bad idea because of the drawing of cards may be the reason of a "deck out"

    ReplyDelete
  22. I take it that Landorus/Garbodor and Big Basics are dead out there? What about Chandelure Plasma variants?

    ReplyDelete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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