How to counter Klinklang with the top tier

Seriously? My favorite Pokémon is playable!

Hello everyone!

One of the hottest topics in the States Championships discussion has been Plasma Klinklang. Is it really viable? If it is a viable deck, the question is, is it a threat to your deck and what you need to do in order to counter it? For some reason Klinklang is always a very heated topic and this year it isn’t no different. And it seems that John Roberts II is still a believer of Klinklang as well!

Today, I’ll be concentrating on how to counter Klinklang with the top3 metagame decks of the moment – Eelektrik, Darkrai EX and Blastoise. No Landorus EX variants, even though the seems to be arguably the best deck in the format at the moment? That’s mainly, because most of the best doing Landorus EX variants out there run Garbdoror, which automatically shuts down Klinklang.

So, what do you need to do if you’re running the other top tier decks that can’t afford running Garbodor in their lists? That’s what I’m here to find out.

Countering Klinklang with Blastoise

Blastoise has probably the most built-in adoptability for teching, as long as the tech works with 1 certain energy type and X amount of Colorless Energy. As you can Deluge water energy to all of your Pokémon, energy accelerating almost anything with a prudent energy cost is way too easy. That’s why, it’s ridiculously easy to tech Blastoise against Klinklang.

Probably the most well-known Fire tech is Victini (V-Create). It also suits Blastoise decks very well. Blastoise decks bench can be filled very easily and the deck has a large number of draw cards, so drawing into Victini and Fire Energy isn’t a problem. After all, most Blastoise decks run Cilan, which makes searching for the Fire Energy ridiculously easy. Victini hits for 100, which makes 200 after the weakness, so everything from Klinklang to Cobalion EX is mincemeat after it faces a Victini.

Victini only has 60 HP and is very easily OHKOed back. That’s why it’s important to look at the other – more Blastoise-efficient – options as well. My favorite Pokémon of all-time – Moltres (NDE) - (which has unfortunately been always unplayable), makes a great job in Blastoise decks. Moltres has 120 HP and it hits 90 with 1 Fire Energy and 3 Coloress Energy. For any other deck than Blastoise, this energy cost would be too much, but in Blastoise it’s perfect. 90, which makes 180 after the weakness, is a perfect number and when combined to Energy Retrievals and the huge HP of Moltres, Klinklang can scoop as soon as the Moltres hits the field. It will sweep the table too easily since Klinklang doesn’t have any form of energy acceleration.

If you don’t want to mess with your decks energy lines and add Fire energy, there is always another option for Blastoise decks as well. As Blastoise isn’t an EX-Pokémon, it’s a viable attacker against Klinklang. One thing you could consider (if you already arent’ doing it), is to play 4-4 Blastoise line and a Dowsing Machine in your Blastoise decks. This won’t hurt your decks’ consistency too much and you have more viable attackers against Klinklang decks as well.

When using Blastoise as a Klinklang-counter, there is something you must remember. NEVER attach 6 energy to Blastoise even if you are able to OHKO a Cobalion. 6 energy is the magical number for Cobalion’s Energy Press which allows Cobalion to OHKO a Blastoise. That’s something you can’t afford. I suggest attaching 4 energy to each Blastoise and then just concentrate on their Pokémon that have energy attached to it. You have energy acceleration, they don’t. That’s an advantage you need to make use of in order to win the difficult match-up.  

Countering Klinklang with Eelektrik

At the moment, there are two Eelektrik variants roaming around the metagame. Rayquaza/Eelektrik and Eelektrik/Bouffalant/Mewtwo. As you can see, Eelektrik/Bouffalant doesn’t really have issues against Klinklang, because they run a huge amount of non-EX attackers in form of Bouffalant, which is one of the best non-EXs in the format. That’s why I’ll concentrate on how to tech your Rayquaza/Eelektrik deck against Klinklang.

First I must point out that Rayquaza/Eelektrik has a natural compatibility with any Fire Pokémon, because it already runs Fire Energy. That’s why I highly recommend using any of these techs in Rayquaza/Eelektrik decks of yours, even if you don’t expect to face any Klinklangs in your metagame. They are viable optional non-EX attackers against any cards e.g. against Bouffalant.  Not to mention that you may after all face a Klinklang deck in your tournament, even if you don’t expect to.

If we look at the tech options, the number one option is once again Victini (V-Create). It’s just too easy to fill up your bench with the help of Level Balls and Ultra Balls in Eelektrik decks and as Eelektriks can energy accelerate your Victini, it’s probably the number one option for every single Rayquaza/Eelektrik deck.

Rayquaza/Eelektrik decks also usually run at least one Rayquaza (Dragon Vault) in order to deal with Sigilyphs and it’s still very viable against Klinklang. However, if you need to decide between Victini and Rayquaza, I would take Victini even though it isn’t able to donk as well as Rayquaza is.

If you for some reason, don’t want to run Victini or Rayquaza in your deck (for example due to its low HP; there are also other one more way of making life difficult for Klinklang and for some other decks as well!

Zebstrika (NDE) here is a very interesting option, because it can ruin other decks as well. With Disconnect you just shut down all the stage2 decks like e.g. Blastoise/Keldeo EX. They can’t evolve their Squirtles and half of their deck becomes useless at that point. The same happens to Klinklang. It may be that they don’t even have a possibility to evolve Klinks before you Catcher them away. Overall, Zebstrika is probably one of the most underrated techs of the moment (also, note it’s resistance to Metal) and free retreat.


Countering Klinklang with Darkrai EX

Darkrai EX is my favorite deck of the moment. And surprisingly it has the most trouble against Klinklang, because it doesn’t have same kind of energy accelerators as Eelektrik or Blastoise and Sableye is the only non-EX Pokémon for the deck. However, there is no need to get desperate if you are a Darkrai EX players, because there are so many options for Darkrai EX decks as well to counter Klinklang.

First once again, Victini. What I want to point out here is that Victini isn’t as good in Darkrai EX as it is in the other decks. Darkrai EX really want to use the 7-prize trap and doesn’t want to play any additional Basics on the bench unless necessary. Victini messes up with this strategy especially due to its low HP. Also, getting your bench full isn’t too easy with Darkrai EX. It’s manageable, but not as easy as with the stage decks discussed earlier. Also, in order to use Victini, you also need Fire energy and Energy Search (and preferably Skylas as well), to get it working. For me it just hurts the consistency too much and doesn’t fit my playing style, so I don’t like Victini here, but it has been used in tournament winning Darkrai EX decks as well, so I suggest you try it out and see if it fits for you.

My personal favorite tech for Darkrai EX is Ninetales (Dragons Exalted). It’s a Ariados (EX Unseen Forces) And Luxray LV.X combined and I have always liked the card. However, thanks to Hypnotoxic Laser it has finally found its space in the metagame as a Klinklang counter. It’s also a 5^th Catchers, which should never been forgotten. Also, unless you flip heads from Hypnotoxic Laser, you can’t OHKO a Cobalion EX with NInetales. That’s why whenever using a NInetales as a Klinklang counter, you should concentrate on hitting the Klinklang with the Ninetales. You are able to OHKO Klinklang with Ninetales even if its only poisoned and after that your Darkai EXs can take care of the rest of the Pokémons until a new Klinklang gets to play. And as mentioned, as Ninetales can work as a 5^th Catcher, it never is useless even if you don’t face a Klinklang during your tournament. How often you really want a 5^th Catcher druing a game? Very often.

The oldest trick in the book for Darkrai EX to counter Klinklang is just to run enough Crushing Hammers and Eviolites in order to Hammerspam Klinklang to death. Unlimited Catchers, Hammers and Eviolites on Sableye is too much for any Klinklang variant to take. At the moment, I can’t find enough space for Hammers without destroying too much consistency, but I’ve seen some Hammer/Laser decks in the tournaments, which proves that it can be done without destroying too much consistency.

Last, if you don’t want to do anything, which can hurt your consistency in any way, I advise you to start finding the weaknesses of Klinklang decks. If you run 3-4 Dark Claws in your Darkrai EX deck, Sableye’s Confuse Ray can be VERY deadly when combined with Hypnotoxic Lasers and Virbank City Gym. If you take the stance to avoid all the other techs and rely only on Dark Claws I suggest running 2 Max Potions or 1/1 Max Potion/Gold Potion line in order to keep Sableyes alive while poisoning and confusing your opponents. Remember, with Sableye you have unlimited every item even if you run only 1 of them. This is something you should take always an advantage of when playing with Sableye decks.



Conclusion

And there you have it! Everything you need to know about teching against Klinklang with the top tier decks. I really enjoy the possibilities this format has to offer for teching and I encourage you to try these out if you are still thinking if you should tech against Klinklang or not. The reason for this is that these cards can prove to be useful even against decks that you would have never imagined!

Anyways, I’ll be playing States this weekend and really are after some huge amounts of Championship Points, so I can get byes for my National Championships! If I fail this weekend, it’s over and I need to go to Nationals without any byes. I really don’t feel comfortable playing this format without any byes in the Nationals, so I hope I’ll get at least one of them.

I hope this article was useful for your States preparations and that you found it informative! Feel free to comment on anything and everything.

Thanks for reading!