Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Chandelure Yanmega - KennethXEcker

4-3-3 Chandelure
2-2 Yanmega Prime
2-1-2 Crobat Prime
2-2 Dodrio
Pokemon Total = 23

2 Professor Juniper
2 Judge
3 Copycat
4 Rare Candy
3 Cheren
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Twins
3 Pokemon Communication
3 Switch
Trainers/Supporter Total = 26

7 Psychic Energy
4 Rescue Energy
Energy Total = 11

Strategy
Chandelure's ability allows it to place 3 damage counters on the opponents benched pokemon in any way you like.  It's attack is costly, but worth it - for 2 psychic and a colorless, you do 60, confuse and burn your opponent.  The confusion really makes your opponent question whether it's worth it to attempt to attack or if they should just retreat into something else.  With dodrio in play, you get free retreat, meaning you can switch back and forth between chandelure easily to reuse the ability again, spreading more damage.  As long as you have equal hand sizes, yanmega prime attacks for free and allows you to continue spreading damage, being able to take KO's on the bench.  Crobat prime can snipe as well for a single psychic energy as well as triple poisoning the active.

Pokemon Analysis
I think the crobat line is a bit too much with both the chandelure and yanmega.  I'd drop the crobat line, increase your dodrio to 3-3 since it's susceptible to catcher and add 2 jirachi.  Having 2 dodrio set up will also help if one is catcher'd up just to stall (free retreat doesn't work on an active dodrio unless there's another dodrio on the bench).   Spreading damage and then taking multiple prizes with jirachi works extremely well together and can cripple your opponent late game.  Jirachi can also make use of the psychic energy in the discard pile.

Energy Analysis
With an increased dodrio line you might be safe going to 3 rescue and 8 psychic which will help you get chandelure powered up faster as well as ensuring that there will be energy in the discard pile for jirachu late in the game.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Increasing your pokemon collector to 4 will help you get a full bench early in the game.   If you don't add another collector, a pichu could be an excellent addition too.  I'd max out your communication since you have several different lines of pokemon going on.  Since you can really abuse chandelure's ability with switch, I'd max it out to 4 and include 4 junk arm as well.  To make room, you can safely drop the cheren, a rare candy and possibly the juniper if needed.  I'd also add 2 catcher and a super rod for a bit of recovery.

Overall
I think once you drop the crobat line to really focus on chandelure and yanmega, you'll be able to set up a lot faster, spreading that damage with chandelure while you build up a chandelure with energy and yanmegas on the bench.  Good luck!

Yanmega Mew Vileplume (Mewbox) - pgcmcsskater

4 mew
4-4 yanmega
3-1-2 vileplume
1-1 sunflora
1 aipom
1 cleffa
1 jumpluff
2 muk
1 jirachi
Pokemon Total = 27

3 collector
3 communication
3 candy
3 judge
3 copycat
3 sages
1 juniper
4 twins
Trainer/Supporter Total = 23

4 rainbow
4 psychic
3 grass
Energy total = 11

Strategy
This is a deck built by one of the best pokemon players I know, so there's very little, if anything, that I can suggest as changes.  So most of this review will be on the strategy.  Ideally, you'll start with a mew in the active position so you can use 'see off' to put a muk in the lost zone.  Mew is able to use the attacks of any pokemon in the lost zone as its own, but for the same energy cost.  Muk's first attack allows you to drag a pokemon off of the bench and once it's in the active position, it's poisoned and confused.  With vileplume on the bench, your opponent has to manually retreat out of the status conditions rather than use switch, making it more difficult.  Ideally you'd target a heavy retreater so that they're forced to stay active longer and take the damage from poison.

There's two other attackers in the deck that mew can utilize - jumpluff and aipom.  If you can bring up a heavy retreater with no energy, you can use aipom to move any energy they attach to the bench.  This stalling may be enough to allow you to finish get setting up.  Jumpluff is the heavy attacker, hitting for more when there's more pokemon on the field and giving mew an option for putting out damage.

The secondary attacker of the deck is yanmega prime. Once you have a heavy retreater in the active position, taking the poison, yanmega starts spreading damage by sniping the bench.  The deck can take KO's this way, or it can just keep spreading to KO key attackers.

Jirachi is the final attacker if the opponents deck contains evolutions.  Jirachi can de-evolve multiple pokemon in a turn, and with all the damage put on by yanmega sniping, this should ensure multiple knockouts.  These late game KO's ensure that you'll have access to your twins engine throughout most of the game, helping you get set up.

Pokemon Analysis
Aipom is probably the only pokemon in this deck that I think can be easily dropped.  The damage from poison will ensure that eventually that active pokemon is KO'd meaning that they won't be trapped in that active position forever.  In other decks like chandelure vileplume, the aipom works much better because once a pokemon with two or more retreat cost is active, unless they play DCE, they can't get out.  So in this deck, aipom is just a staller and it would be more beneficial to use that time spreading damage with yanmega or using mew to bring up different pokemon from the bench to take damage while you get set up.

Energy Analysis
I don't see any reason to change a thing.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
When I've played this deck, the biggest thing that I struggled with was the lack of recovery.  I often found that something was prized or could have won the game if I just had one more yanmega or one more mew.  For that reason I'd add a flower shop lady.  I'm worried that by reducing your collector to 3, you reduce your chances of being able to get a double oddish out.  I'd say 3 collector is only a good idea when there's a pichu.  Which means we still have to find room for it.  I'd probably feel safest by dropping a sage since it's not something that the deck really relies on (unlike the judge and copycat for hand-matching).

Overall
This deck has always been a great deck, but always seems to flop at tournaments.  It can struggle against the clock in tournament since there's many times where it won't take prizes until later in the game.  Since there's pokemon that are run in small numbers, this makes it more probable that they're going to be prized.  We might see an increase of this type of deck if mewtwo ex's start to get really popular since mew can use jumpluff's attack to KO a mewtwo in one hit!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Magneboar - ThePokemonkid45

4-3-2 Emboar (ability)
2 Reshiram
3-3-2 Magnezone prime
2 Tyrogue
1 smoochum
2 sigilyph #42
Pokemon Total =  24

12 fire energy
8 electric energy
Energy Total = 20

2 Pokemon catcher
2 Pokemon communication
1 Revive
1 Energy retrieval
2 Cheren
1 Professor Juniper
2 PONT
1 Energy search
2 Judge
Trainer/Supporter =  14

Strategy
This deck is a variation of a Magneboar deck.  Ability emboar adds on as many fire energy as you want per turn, reshiram takes early knockouts and magnezone puts energy in the lost zone to be able to 1HKO anything you can imagine.

Pokemon Analysis
I'm not really sure why you have sigilyph in the deck.  It's attacks are fairly weak compared to the other attackers in your deck and I can't really see any reason why you would have it over something different.  Same with the smoochum.  In formats with shaymin, eelekrik, pachirisu and other pokemon that manipulate energy, wasting a turn to move an energy doesn't seem worth the risk.  I see why you have tyrogue in the deck, but feel that both can easily be dropped for a single cleffa.  You still have the baby status to act as a possible staller, but a new hand can really get you set up in the beginning.

By utilizing rare care candies, you can change your emboar line to a 4-2-3 line.  I'd run 2 of the ability and one of the non ability since it's a great attacker.  With the risk of pokemon catcher, you'll likely play two tepigs at a time on the bench to ensure that at least one survives to be an emboar.  If they both survive, having an emboar with a better attack rather than 2 ability emboar on the bench can be very useful.  I'd recommend changing up your magnezone lines for the same reason.  A 3-1-2 line should give you more space in the deck for the rare candies that you'll need.  You might even want to go to heavier 4-2-3 magnezone line.

Energy Analysis
While this deck will run a lot of energy, too much energy takes away space from the much needed trainer/supporter lines.  So I'd try and reduce your energy to around 14 with 10 fire and 4 lightning.  Relying on emboar and reshiram as attacker early in the game should allow you to have enough energy left for magnezone to take the last few prizes.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Here the part of the deck that needs to be doubled if your deck is going to work.  4 collector will help you get a full bench early in the game.  Since you run lots of different pokemon, 4 communication will help you get out exactly what you need.  With 2 stage 2 pokemon, 4 rare candy are essential.  4 junk arm will help you reuse any trainers you've previously used, mainly your catcher.  I'd add in one fisherman and super rod to increase  your discard recovery.  I might even add a second energy retrieval to ensure that you can keep getting those fire energy back after reshiram (or emboar) discards them after attacking.

The biggest thing left is draw/shuffle power.  Magnezone can do really well with disruption, so I'd look at 2-3 judge and 2-3 N.  2 juniper and 2-3 PONT will also help you get set up.  If you have any room, you might want to consider Sage's Training as well since that will help you search through your deck faster.  While you have to discard some cards, you can usually ensure that they're things you can still use, like trainers with junk arm or energy with one of your recovery cards.  With two stage 2 pokemon, you're going to be fairly slow setting up, so I'd recommend adding at least 3 twins.  If you don't have room for twins, cutting a communication or some of the draw power should help make room.

Cards like your revive and energy search just aren't needed as the other cards that I listed, so I'd drop those to make room.  Hopefully between dropping some of the pokemon lines and the energy, you'll have enough room to fill up your trainer/supporter lines.

Overall
Magneboar variants are very strong decks and can still make a good showing in tournaments if they're built to set up as fast as possible.  By increasing your trainer/supporter line, you'll have a much higher chance of doing that!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Beartic Reuniclus - misterpokemax

4-4 Beartic
2-2-2 Reuniclus
2-2 Zoroark

2 Rare Candy
4 Energy Search
3 Pokemon Catcher
3 Switch
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Fisherman
2 Sages

6 DCE
6 Psychic
10 Water

Strategy
Beartic's sheer cold attack prevents the defending pokemon from attacking the next turn, meaning it has to retreat to another attacker.  Beartic's relatively high HP could make it difficult to take out, but reuniclus ensure that the it can survive by moving the damage counters around.  Zoroark can copy any defending attack, so it's a great back-up attacker.

Pokemon Analysis
Reuniclus' low HP typically means that it's catcher bait, which is why it's typically paired with vileplume.  This prevents both of you from using trainers, but also means that your opponent has to manually retreat rather than use the trainer switch.  So I would add a 3-1-2 line of vileplume.  I'd focus on your vileplume line up first, then the reuniclus line so it's not catcher'd up.  This will mean some changes to your trainers/supporters, but it should be worth it.  Reuniclus is going to have to have something to move the damage to, so I'd add in 3 kyurem.  Since it's water type, it could be a great secondary attacker as well.  With the new additions, we'll need to make some room, so I'd drop the zoroark.  Having kyurem as a secondary attacker is much stronger than zoroark.

Energy Analysis
You can only run 4 of a special energy, so you'll have to reduce your DCE to 4.  Reuniclus is a terrible attacker, so I'd drop the psychic energy completely.  The 10 water should be all that you need.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Since you're running vileplume we'll have to drop all the trainers except for 2 to help you get vileplume into play - 3 communication and 3 rare candy.  Maxing out your sage will help you draw into them early game and help you get rid of them later in the game when you can't use them.   4 collector will help you get your bench filled up.  You'll likely be behind on prizes as you try and set up your vileplume, so you'll need 4 twins to help you get set up.  1 flower shop will serve as your recovery, although if you find that you're losing a lot of basic energy in your games, 1 fisherman should be okay.  The rest of the deck should go to draw power - 4 PONT, 2 juniper, 2-3 cheren and possibly a few N to disrupt your opponent late in the game.

Overall
With the addition of kyurem and vileplume, I think this deck has a bit more potential in this format.  Even if you only use kyurem for outrage, you could still deal out quite a bit of damage with it by moving damage counters to it with reuniclus.  Good luck!

Donphan Cincinno Zoroark - aj47hero

3-3 donphan
2-2 cinccino
2-2 zoroark
1-1 muk
1 manaphy
1 aipom
1 zekrom
Pokemon Total = 21

 1 judge
1 juniper
1 cheren
1 flower shop
3 oak
3 collector
4 communication
2 plus power
4 catcher
2 switch
1 junk arm
Trainers/Supporter Total = 23

8 Fighting
2 Lightning
3 DCE
2 sp. dark
2 basic dark
1 Psychic
1 Rescue
Energy Total = 19

Strategy
This deck doesn't have a primary attacker, but instead includes a variety of pokemon to try and expose the opponents weaknesses.  Since it only runs stage 1's, it can attack fairly fast for little energy.  The trick will be making the right decision on what pokemon to use.

Pokemon Analysis
I would swap out the manaphy for a cleffa since not only does it give you a larger hand size, doesn't have an energy cost and can also be used to stall.  You have a few too many lines of pokemon going on.  I've seen muk sucessfully used in mew variants, and aipom in vileplume variants, but that's it.  I'd drop both of them.  I'm not a fan of the zekrom, but I could see where it might come in handy after collecting a lot of damage for outrage.  I'd focus on increasing your 3 main attackers, donphan, cincinno and zoroark.  Cincinno is going to be useful only with a full bench, so it's something you might want to max out so you can use it early in the game.  I'd also max out your donphan since it's energy cost is so low.

Energy Analysis
You have a very high energy amount which is one of the reasons why I suggested dropping some of the various pokemon lines.  Having things more streamlined will help you draw into what you need.  I'd recommend 4 DCE since both zoroark and cincinno can utilize it, and 8 fighting energy for donphan.  12 should be enough energy for the deck.  If you wanted to add anything else, I'd consider 2 rescue energy in case you need to reuse zoroark since you don't run a high number of it.  But you should be fine with just DCE and fighting.


Trainer/Supporter Analysis
4 collector will help you get your bench set up as fast as possible.  Your flower shop can be swapped for a super rod that can be re-used if needed by increasing your junk arms to 4.  By increasing the junk arms, you can safely reduce the catcher to 2-3.  You don't really benefit from a small hand size, so I'd drop the judge and include more draw power like an additional 1-2 juniper, 1-2 more cheren and maxing out your PONT.  By increasing your draw power, you should have no problem getting the energy you need throughout the game.

Overall
This deck still has quite a bit of potential since one of it's primary attackers can exploit the weakness of one of the most popular decks - Eelektrik variants.  By focusing your pokemon lines and reducing your energy, you've left quite a bit of room to increase your draw support, which should make it easier to set up.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Typhlosion Ursaring - WaonTonSoup

4-3-4 Ursaring
4-3-3 Typhlosion
x2 Cleffa
x2 Smeargle
Pokemon Total = 25

x3 Sage's Training
x2 Defender
x1 Dual Ball
x1 Twins
x4 Rare Candy
x2 Pokemon Collector
x1 Professor Oak's New Theory
x2 Porfessor Elm's Training Method
x3 Pokemon Communication
Trainer/Supporter Total = 19


14 Fire Energy
2 Double Colorless
Energy Total = 16

Strategy
Ursaring's pokebody says that if it's damaged, it's attack output increases by 60.  So Typhlosion's job is to add an energy to Ursaring from the discard pile with it's pokepower afterburner, adding a damage counter for that increase in attack power.  Cleffa is for a new hand or stalling while smeargle helps the set up early in the game by being able to imitate any supporters in your opponents hand. Once you have ursaring powered up and have a back-up on the bench, typhlosion can 'afterburner' to itself, making a great secondary attacker.

Pokemon Analysis
Ursaring is a stage 1 pokemon, evolving from teddiursa, there's no middle stage.  So I'm not sure what your 4-3-4 line actually consists of.  Good thing is, that leaves room to add more cards in the deck!  To help get fire energy into the discard pile, I'd add in a 2-2 line of ninetales with roast reveal.  Not only does it force you to discard a fire energy, but it acts as a great draw engine.  With so many supporter cards in the format that are meant to disrupt or discard (juniper, judge, N, copycat), the risk of you using smeargle and messing up your hand is fairly high.  That's why I'd recommend dropping it as well as one cleffa to give room for more trainers/supporters of your own.

Energy Analysis
16 energy is a bit high, you should easily be able to go down to a total of 12-14.  I'd recommend increasing your DCE to 4 and have the remaining energy be fire.

Trainer/Supporter Total
4 collector will ensure a full bench early in the game.  While Sage's Training will help you get those fire energy into the discard pile, so will Engineer's Adjustments, so I'd add in about 3 of them.  Adding in a super rod will give you a bit of recovery, and you can always reuse it (or any other trainer) with 4 junk arm.  Pokemon Catcher is essential in non trainer lock decks now, so I'd add in at least 2 of them.  You have fairly low retreat pokemon, but it's always handy to have one switch in the deck, in case of a sleeping cleffa or if you don't want to pay the energy cost. If you have anymore room in the deck, I'd add in a few more PONT to refresh your hand size as well as a couple of juniper for a completely new hand.  If you need room in the deck, I would consider dropping or at least reducing your elms.  I prefer communication and find that elm is really only helpful in/against trainer lock decks.   With a high number of draw/shuffle support cards, as well as ninetales, you should be able to set up without it.

Overall
This is a deck that had always appealed to me, but I've never tried it out.  The low HP of ursaring compared to many of the 'big basics' in the format has always been a reason to avoid the deck.  But you still have a combination of pokemon that work well together and I can imagine a lot of match-ups where you'd have the advantage (like against durant).

Magnezone Kyurem Feragaltr - 9723224042

2 Cleffa (CL 24)
3-2-3 Magnezone (TR 96)
2-2-2 Feraligatr (HGSS 108)
3 Kyurem (NV 34)
2-2 Dodrio (UD 11)
Pokemon Total = 23

2 Pokemon Catcher (EP 95)
2 Junk Arm (TR 87)
2 Twins (TR 89)
4 Pokemon Collector (HGSS 97)
3 Pokemon Communication (BW 99)
3 Rare Candy (UL 82)
2 Fisherman (HGSS 92)
4 Professor Oak's New Theory (HGSS 101)
2 N (NV 101)
Trainer/Supporters = 24

10 Water Energy (CL 90)
3 Lightning Energy (HGSS 118)
Energy Total = 13

Strategy
This is a primarily a spread deck where kyurem glaciates for multiple turns, spreading damage around the field.  This means that it takes prizes later in the game, allowing it to use a twins engine.  Feraligatr is the energy acceleration, magnezone is the draw power and dodrio is for free retreat.  Both magnezone and feraligatr can be used as attackers too.

Pokemon Analysis
Without vileplume, you have quite a few targets for catcher.  The easiest one in dodrio.  It would be safer to increase your number of switch to be able to pull back your high retreat cost pokemon than to risk losing multiple prizes on dodrio.  Since basics are great catcher bait, I'd add in one more magnemite and totodile to ensure that you'll be able to get the evolutions going as well as increase the chances of getting them out faster.  You may be safe in reducing your magnezone line to a 3-2-2 like feraligatr since it's not a primary attacker.  You should be safe in reducing your cleffa to one since it's a card you won't need in every game.

Energy Analysis
Perfect, I can't think of any reasons to change your energy counts.


Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Since you have two stage 2 pokemon, I'd max out your rare candy and junk arms to ensure that you can get them up as fast as possible without the use of the stage 1.  I'd add in 2 switch since the dodrio has been dropped (your maxed out junk arms will also help you reuse them).  I like a super rod in every deck, just in case something crucial is prized (for example, a feraligatr being prized and your lone feraligatr on the field being catcher'd up and KO'd).  Other than that, it seems like you have a pretty consistent trainer/supporter line.

Overall
This seems to be an excellent deck, combining the spread of a the typical kyurem deck with some draw power and secondary attacker that can KO anything as long as it has enough energy on the field.  Good luck with it!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Scizor KlingKlang - ProjectPokemonHQ

3-3 Scizor Prime
2-2 Umbreon
1-1 Slowking
2-1-2 Klinklang (ability)
1 Skarmory
Pokemon Total = 18

3x Professor Oak's New Theory
2x Rockets Trickery
2x Elms
2x Seeker
1x Collector
1x Twins
1x Interviews
1x Flowershop Lady
3x Communication
2x Rarcandy
2x Junk Arm
2x Switch
2x DualBall
2x Catcher
1x Energy Exchanger
1x Lost Remover
Trainer/Supporter Total = 28

4 Sp. Metal
2 Sp. Darkness
9 Basic Metal
Energy Total = 15

Strategy
Scizor prime is a pokemon that's great to 'tank' meaning that with special metals stocked up on it, it becomes very difficult to knock out.  Klingklang can work essentially the same way, but it's ability allows it to move around energy as needed.  The umbreon is to prevent pokemon with pokepowers and pokebodies from attacking, slowking to be able to control what you or your opponent draws into and skarmory to attach additional energy.

Pokemon Analysis
Skarmory is an ideal starter for this type of deck, so increasing it to 3 will help you get it out on the first, possibly second, turn.  I'd add in one cleffa if you really need a new hand or need to stall for a bit.  Slowking is not needed in this deck and it just acts as a target for catcher, so I would drop it.  With pokemon abilities, umbreon isn't as effective as it used to be, so it can safely be dropped as well.  This will give you enough room to add the skarmory as well as increase your scizor and klingklang line.  With catcher, you'll need to be prepared to lose a few basics before they get a chance to evolve.  Increasing your scizor prime line to 4-3 or 4-4 and your klingklang line to a 3-1-2 or a 3-2-2 should allow you to lose basics and still get set up.

Energy Analysis
Since I've suggested to drop the umbreon, you won't need the special dark anymore.  13 energy should be more than enough with this deck, especially with a little recovery.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
I'd drop the dual ball and increase your collector to 4.  Swap your flowershop for a super rod so you can reuse it with your junk arms if needed.  Increasing your junk arms to 4 will help you reuse the thing you keep in small numbers.  To make some room in the deck for some of my suggestions, I'd drop the lost remover, energy exchanger, seeker, rockets trickery and interviewers questions.  I'd max out your PONT, add a couple of cheren and possibly 2 more twins since you'll be spending quite a few turns attaching energy rather than attacking.  If you still have any room left, you might want to consider a couple of juniper and N for further draw support.

Overall
You have a deck whose pokemon work well with each other, especially once you cut out some of the other that aren't needed.  By increasing your draw support, you should be able to have an easier time getting set up.  This deck will struggle against fire decks and with reshiphlosion being a prevalent deck still, this could possibly be a problem for you.  With the right meta though, you should be able to do fairly well in tournament.

Blastoise Floatzel - BlastzelDeck

3-2-3 Blastoise
2-2 Floatzel
2-1-2 Kingdra prime
1 Manaphy
1 Tyrouge
2-2 Zoroark
Pokemon Total = 23

4 Double Colorless Energy
10 Water Energy
Energy Total = 14

x1 Cheren
x1 Dual Ball
x1 Energy Retrieval
x1 Flower Shop Lady
x3 Junk Arm
x2 Pokemon Catcher/Reversal
x2 Pokemon Collector
x3 Pokemon Communication
x3 Prof. Oak New Theory
x3 Rare Candy
x2 Switch
x1 Twins
Trainers/Supporter Total = 23

Strategy
Blastoise is the main attacker of the deck, able to snipe anywhere on the field for 100.  The downside is that it must return 2 energy attached to blastoise back to your hand after it attacks.  So it's often paired with an energy acceleration like feraliagtr or floatzel that can constantly add energy.  Kingdra prime allows for damage counters to be placed each turn, making it easier to one shot pokemon, even on the bench.

Pokemon Analysis
With catcher being common in every non-trainer lock deck, I'd recommend increasing your number of basics as well as your floatzel line.  Blastoise should be 4-2-3, kingdra 3-1-2 and floatzel 3-3.  I prefer a single cleffa over manaphy.  Tyrogue isn't necessary and dropping it would help make room to increase your lines.  While I want to drop zoroark to help make room, since everything in your deck is weak to lightning it's just needed too much to afford dropping.

Energy Analysis
Since I'm suggesting that you add several pokemon, you may need to drop two water energy to make room for them.  12 energy for this deck should be enough.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
I'd max out your collector and drop the dual ball.  Since we now have super rod, it's a perfect swap for the flower shop lady.  If still need more space in the deck, you can easily drop one switch or even just swap a switch for a junk arm (I like having the possibility of using a 4th 'anything' rather than fixating on only one option).  Once you get set up, you don't necessarily need to rely on your deck, just your field, which is perfect for the supporter N.  I would probably swap the cheren out for a N, possibly dropping a PONT to increase the N to 2.

Overall
Blastoise variants are one of my favorite decks (likely because it's one of my favorite pokemon).  With all the lightning in the format, we don't see many of them around anymore, but it's still an excellent deck that had a good chance of seeing tournament play in the future.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Lanturn Yanmega - TheNubilicious

3-3 lanturn prime
4-3 yanmega prime
2-2 zorua
1 manaphy
1 cleffa
1 tornadus
Pokemon Total = 20

4 pokemon collector
3 copycat
2 judge
2 prof, oak new theory
2 prof. juniper
4 junk arm
3 pokemon catcher
4 pokemon communication
2 switch
3 plus power
Trainer/Supporter Total =  29

7 lightning energy
4 double colorless
Energy Total = 11

Strategy
This was a deck that was submitted during Fall Battle Roads, but with reviewing decks for Regionals and school, I just didn't have time to do the video review that I intended to do on it.  This deck primarly relies on yanmega prime to attack with no energy while being able to build up lanturns on the bench.  The more energy on the field, the harder lanturn hits. Tornadus is a great attacker as well since it moves energy back onto the bench after it does damage.

Pokemon Analysis
In a later version of the deck, you added a small ZPS line  - 1 zekrom, 1 pachirisu and 1 shaymin.  I think this is still the stronger deck and would probably add ina second zekrom (great against durants).  Dropping the manaphy and tornadus helps make room for this change.

Energy Analysis
The DCE is essential for getting lanturn powered up fast and since zekrom can use it as well, it should definitely remain maxed out.  Since you want a lot of lightning energy to be able to utilize pachirisu, leaving the remaining energy in the deck as lightning is perfect.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
I like to have a little recovery in the deck, just in case.  So one super rod should be all that you need.  Other than that, I really don't have any other suggestions for the deck.  I might swap one of the pluspowers and a copycat for 2 N, and drop a communication to make room for the super rod.  But that just fits my personal play style.

Overall
This is an excellent deck that can counter a lot of the big decks today with the ability to snipe and to counter several different types of pokemon.  While this was submitted months ago, it could still stand a chance in tournament today with a few tweaks, depending on the meta in your area.

6 Corners - TheAnimefa​n608

4 virizion
2 kyurem
2 terrakion
2 cobalion
1 reshiram
1 victini {v-create}
1 shaymin
Pokemon Total = 12
 
4 collector
4 pont
4 juniper
2 seeker
1 n
4 catcher
4 junk arm
4 switch
3 eviolite
2 pokegear
Trainer/Supporter Total = 32

5 grass
4 rainbow
4 dce
2 water
Energy Total = 15
 
Strategy
This deck is commonly known as 6 corners because of the 6 pokemon that it features.  It attempts to try and 'tech' for everything by having a variety of pokemon types that can counter any other deck.  For example, if you were facing a Eelekrik deck, you'd focus on the terrakions for the fighting weakness.  If you faced durant, you'd focus on the v-create victini.  It can be a fairly difficult deck to play though because of all the options that you have.  Without any energy acceleration, you have to be careful with each energy attachment.
 
Pokemon Analysis
The types of pokemon you include really depend on what's in your area.  Chandelure Vileplume is a pretty popular deck right now, so I would include a absol prime to counter it.  If you find that there's a lot of durant in your area, including another v-create victini will help.  If you need to drop something to make room for these, I'd suggest lowering the count of virizion. While it's a great starter, you can safely go down to 3, possibly even 2, of them.
 
Energy Analysis
I'd look at spreading your basic energy out a bit.  Possibly running 1 dark, 1 grass, 2 fighting and 2 water.  I'd add 2 special metal for cobalion and to make room for it, dropping one DCE.  This should help you meet your energy type requirements without necessarily having to rely on rainbow energy.
 
Trainer/Supporter Analysis
I like to have a little recovery in every deck, just in case, so I'd add in one super rod.  To make room for it, you'll probably be safe dropping one of the switch.  I'm typically find that with 4 juniper in my deck, I may not have a choice in discarding something important, so I would take out a juniper in exchance for one more N since it's great disruption.
 
Overall
You already have an excellent build of the deck.  Perhaps when I catch up on the remaining deck reviews on the blog, I'll make this into a video review.  Thanks for submitting!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Donphan Machamp - BananaZ0Rz

4-3 Donphan Prime
3-1-3 Machamp Prime
2-2 Zoroark
1 Tyrogue
Pokemon Total = 19

4 PONT
3 Juniper
4 Collector
4 Communication
4 Catcher
3 Junk Arm
3 Rare Candy
2 Plus Power
1 Switch
Trainer/Supporter Total = 28

7 Fighting
4 DCE
2 Rainbow
Energy Total = 13

Overall Strategy
This is one of my favorite decks that I typically admire, but never play due to liking something else better.  The goal is to start out with a donphan prime, fill up the bench and start earthquaking.  By putting damage on your end, you're powering up machamps second attack which hits more for each damaged pokemon on the bench.  Both attackers not only have great attacks, but are difficult to knock out because of machamp's high HP and donphan's pokebody.  Zoroark is there as a back-up attacker, being able to copy any of the defending pokemon's attacks for only a DCE.  This deck was submitted several months ago, and while I wanted to do a deck review for it, I just didn't have the time, so hopefully a blog review will do. 

Pokemon Analysis
With pokemon catcher in the current format, I think your machamp line would be better as a 4-1-3, or if there's a lot of trainer lock in your area, a 4-2-3.  I would prefer to swap the tyrogue for a cleffa just in case you get a terrible start or need to stall later in the game.  Other than that, I don't really have any suggestions.  A 4-4 line of donphan would be more consistent, but that space might be better with trainers/supporters.

Energy Analysis
Initially I had thought about dropping the rainbow energy and increasing the fighting, but I can see many situations where being able to add an additional damage counter to a benched pokemon with no damage to get that extra damage output from machamp could be useful.   So I'd leave your energy as is.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Instead of the 3rd juniper I'd add a super rod so you have a little recovery, just in case.  Other than that, I have no changes to suggest.  Since I suggested adding a couple of cards in the pokemon section, to make room for them you could probably drop a communication and a catcher.  Or you might be safe by dropping the pluspowers, since they're situational.  I'd love to see another junk arm, but it's certainly not necessary.

Overall
With lightning being one of top tier decks at the moment, I think this deck still has a great shot in tournament!  It's already a very consistent build, and I think my few tweaks are only because the format differs so much from a few months ago.  Thanks for submitting!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Gigalith Machamp - zealouskoala

4-2-4 Gigalith
3-1-3 Machamp Prime
1 Cleffa
1 Shaymin
Pokemon Total = 19

4 Professor Oak's New Theory
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Cheren
4 Pokemon Communication
3 Junk Arms
4 Rare Candy
2 Switch
Trainer/Supporter Total - 22

19 Fighting Energy

Pokemon Analysis
I'd add in another machop and machoke, just to ensure that you can get machamps going throughout the game with pokemon catcher in the format.  In fact, you might increase the stage 1 number to 3 in both of your lines if you find that there's a lot of trainer lock in your area.  Otherwise, your line of pokemon is very strong and I can't think of any other way to improve it.

Energy Analysis
I know that with gigalith's shear you want to run a high number of energy to be able to sucessfully attach several for the attack, but you shouldn't need to go any higher than 14-15.

Trainers/Supporters
The best addition to help with gigalith's sheer is 4 research record (although it will also help with cheren).  That way you can toss anything that's not fighting energy down to the bottom of the deck, increasing the chances of attaching more energy with the attack.  I'd max out your collector to ensure a fast start as well as your junk arms.  Including at least 2, possibly 3, pokemon catcher will help you target weaker pokemon or 'tech' pokemon.  1 super rod will serve as a little bit of recovery.  Finally I'd add in some twins, at least 2, possibly 3, since you'll probably be down on prizes as you get two stage 2 pokemon set up.

I've suggested adding quite a few things, but not haven't mentioned dropping anything.  While everything else that you have in the deck is great, obviously there's no room at the moment for all of my suggestions.  In addition to reducing the energy count down to 14-15, you can also decrease your machamp line since it's just a secondary attacker (possibly a 3-1-2 line).  You can also survive with just 3 communication.

Overall
I really like gigalith as an attacker, but it's always been so slow to get running.  I'm hoping with the changes to your trainer/supporter line you'll be able to get set up a lot faster.  I hope this deck works!

Kingdra Samurott - Zargonorix

3-2-3 Kingdra (2 prime, 1 non)
3-2-3 Samurott (2 ability, 1 non)
2 Manaphy
2-2 Zoroark (Foul Play)
1 Cleffa
Pokemon Total = 23

10 water
4 DCE
Energy Total = 14

1 Twins
3 Junk Arm
2 Prof. Oak New Theory
3 Rare Candy
3 Pokemon Catcher
3 Pokemon Communication
2 Pokemon Collector
2 Dual Ball
1 Flower Shop Lady
2 Energy Retrieval
1 Switch
Trainer/Supporter Total = 23

Pokemon Analysis
With catcher in the format, increasing the number of basics helps to get the evolutions set up.  So adding one more oshawott and horsea should do.  I'd drop the manaphy to make room for this addition since the single cleffa should be all the you need.  With lightning being huge in the format, I worry that you're going to get taken out easily in tournaments, but maybe increasing the zoroark count will help counter the lightning.  I'd focus on just kingdra prime instead of the non prime since samurott is already a heavy water hitter.  Being able to snipe 3 times each turn can be devastating as it builds up.

Energy Analysis
If you find that you need extra room in the deck for something fairly critical, like a trainer/supporter, you should be safe to go down on your energy count by at least 2.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
With 2 stage 2 pokemon, you might be a bit slow setting up, so increasing your number of twins to 2, possibly 3, should help.  4 pokemon collector instead of dual ball should ensure a fast set up early in the gamme.  With 2 stage 2's, maxing out your rare candy and possibly communication to 4 each might help your speed.  Now that we have super rod for recovery, you can substitute it for the flower shop.  I personally like to have 4 junk arm in the deck to increase my options of reusing cards at any time.  With durant decks, having access to more super rod and switch can be very helpful.  Finally, you need a bit more shuffle/draw power.  Maxing out your PONT and including a couple of juniper and/or cheren should fix that.  I don't think you need the energy retrieval since you have quite a few energy in the deck and have access to super rod as well.  Dropping those should also give you a bit more room in the deck for some of my suggestions.

Overall
You have a deck that's capable of hitting for quite a bit per turn, especially with the help of multiple kingdra on the bench to continuously snipe each turn.  I think the only flaw is just going to be your set up.  Trying to get 2 stage 2 pokemon up fairly fast and continuously hit is going to be a challenge, but I think with the right combination of trainers and supporters, it's very possible.  Good luck!!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Yanmega Donphan Zoroark - DePokeDS

3-3 Yanmega prime
3-3 Donphan prime
2-2 Zoroark BW
1 Tornadus
1Absol prime
1 Reshiram
1 Cleffa
Pokemon Total = 20

4 Pokemon Collector
3 Judge
3 Copycat
2 Professor oaks new theory
4 Junk Arm
4 Pokemon Communication
4 Pokemon Catcher
3 PlusPower
2 Switch
Trainer/Supporter Total = 29

8 fighting
3 DCE
Energy Total = 11

Pokemon Analysis
This is one of the best decks in the format when it was submitted a few months ago and still has a good chance in the format today with some adjustments.  Quite a few eel based decks are teching for possible donphan match-ups, so instead of the donphan, terrakion has been the preferred choice.  It may take one turn to power up, but it's since it's a basic, you can use that extra turn for an energy attachment.  With few grass pokemon in the meta today (yanmega doesn't include resistance/weakness), choosing a fighting type that can withstand water types is typically the better choice (depending on what's being playing in your area of course).  I'd add one more yanma since it's a great starter with a free retreat cost, and in case one is catcher'd up before it can evolve.

Without the donphan, you shouldn't need reshiram to 'collect damage' to be able to use it later.  I like the absol tech since it's great for psychic pokemon that are weak to darkness, the biggest one being chandelure, but there are others as well.  However, for it to be useful, you'd need to include the necessary energy to be able to attack with it.  It's pokebody is great, but only useful if you can start with it active on the first turn (possibly second if your opponent doesn't get a collector start).  So you'd need to increase the number you run in the deck if your intention is to use it for the pokebody or include the energy to be able to use it as an attacker or you could just drop it completely.  It depends on what sort of decks are in your area.

I feel like your deck can benefit from another attacker, but I'm unsure if increasing the zoroark line is the best way to do it. I'd like to see how more tornadus would work out since it's a fast attacker with DC, but that means that 2 of your main attackers are going to be weak to lightning, which is more of a reason to include 4 terrakion to counter it.

Energy Analysis
I'd max out your DCE so you can utilize zoroark and tornadus consistently.  If you decide to run absol prime as an attacker, then I'd include some rainbow energy since it can count for your fighting energy as well.  If you don't run absol as an attacker, then just adding another DCE for a total energy count of 12 should be enough.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
You have an excellent line of trainers/supporters that doesn't really need any changes.  I'd recommend one super rod for a little recovery.  I would max out your judges and to make room for that change, reduce your copycat by 1.  Decks today tend to have smaller hand sizes, so judges would reduce the chance of you using copycat and ending up with a hand too small to work with.

Overall
A slightly different version of this deck is still played in our current format and does pretty well depending on the area meta, so I can see this deck doing very well.  With less yanmega being played, more people aren't as afraid to increase the count of 30/40 HP pokemon, so you should be able to take advantage of that assumption.

Crobat Ampharos - ZachMurtaugh

4-2-4 Crobat Prime
3-1-3 Ampharos Prime
1-0-1 Kingdra Prime
1 Cleffa
Pokemon Total = 20

3 Pokemon Communication
3 PONT
3 Super Scoop Ups
2 Pokemon Collector
3 Junk Arm
4 Pokemon Reversals
1 Interviewers Questions
4 Rare Candies
2 Emcee's Chatter
2 Research Record
2 Switch
Trainers/Supporters = 29

5 psychic
4 rainbows
2 Double Colorless
Energy Total = 11

Pokemon Analysis
This is a very well built deck that stood a much better chance of doing better in tournament a few months ago (when it was originally submitted).  So I'm going to try and review it so be playable in today's format.  3 stage 2 pokemon in the deck are going to make it very slow to get set up, especially if you run across trainer lock.  So I would recommend dropping one of the lines to make your task a bit easier.  With electric being one of the biggest decks in the format, your kingdra is going to be nice catcher bait for it.  Ampharos has a stronger attack anyways, so I'd recommend maxing out the line of ampharos to a  4-2-4 like crobat.  Jirachi would be a great addition to the deck as well.  You can spread damage with crobat, then use jirachi to de-evolve for multiple knockouts.  I dont have any other suggestions for your pokemon lines since ampharos and crobat work fairly well together already.

Energy Analysis
Since ampharos is your secondary attacker, I might increase your DCE to 4.  13 total energy in the deck should be a solid number.  If you need more room, I'd drop some of the psychic and rely on the remaining psychic and rainbow energy for crobat prime.  However, if you add in jirachi, I'd try to keep as many psychic in the deck as possible.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Here's where I have the most suggestions.  Increasing your collector to 4 will ensure that you get a fast set up.  Your reversals are now catchers and I think maxing them out is a pretty good idea, although you could probably safely go down to 3 (if you need the room) and increase your junk arm to 4 to give you a few more options.  I'd add in one super rod for a little recovery.  I don't think you need the super scoop up, research record or emcee's chatter.  Adding in more shuffle/draw power will help you draw into what you need and will take the place of the cards that you don't really need.  I'd recommend 2 juniper, 2-3 cheren, max out your PONT.  If you have the room, a 4th communication may help as well.  Since you rely on stage 2 pokemon, you're likely going to lose a few basics early on due to catcher, so I'd definitely add in a few twins, possibly 3.  That should help you finish setting up and spreading damage.

Overall
You have a very strong deck built, and I think with a few tweaks, it could do well in today's format if you can get it running right.  Spread decks work very well against decks that run evolutions, but your deck is likely going to struggle against all of the decks that rely on strong basic pokemon (kyurem, cobalion, reshiram, zekrom).

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Emboar Reshiram Zoroark - ReshiramEmo

4 Reshiram
1 Mew
2-1-1 Gengar
2-1-2 Scolipede
2-2 Zoroark BW
2-2-2 Emboar (1 ability, 1 non)
1-1 Ninetales
3 Mime Jr.
1-1-1 Reuniclus
Pokemon Total = 32

2 Lost World
1 Burned Tower
1 Alph Lithograph
1 Revive
2 Rare Candy
2 Life Herb
2 Switch
2 Dual Ball
Trainers/Stadiums = 13

2 Rescue Energy
1 Double Colorless Energy
5 Fire Energy
7 Psychic Energy
Energy Total = 14

Pokemon Analysis
The biggest problem that I see with this deck is that you have way too many different lines of pokemon in it, no supporters and very few trainers to get the deck running.  You've essentially combined two decks - reshiram and gengar.  Since reshiram is going to be a stronger deck in the current format, lets focus on that half.  Increasing the emboar line to 4-2-3 with 2 of the ability emboar will ensure that you can get your energy acceleration up and going (and keep it going).  The non ability emboar is a great secondary attacker.  If you're going to include ninetales as a draw engine, I would increase the line to a 2-2 to ensure that you can get one going in case a vulpix is catcher'd up or part of the line is prizes.  I'd add in one cleffa for a hand refresher and possible staller.  If you can find room for it, the zoroark isn't a bad pokemon to include since your deck is weak to water, but if you find that you're having trouble finding room after my trainer/supporter suggestions, I'd drop it.  Everything else in the deck can go (basically all the psychic pokemon since that's a completely different deck).

Energy Analysis
Now that you're relying just on fire types, you can drop the psychic energy and increase the fire.  I typically choose rescue energy over DCE in a deck like this, finding that with emboar, it's easy to continuously add energy, so DCE just isn't needed as much. If you can get the total energy count down to 12 (2 rescue and 10 fire), that should give you more room for trainers/supporters.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Having the right trainers/supporters is what's going to make this deck work.  Now that we no longer have the psychic pokemon, you don't need lost world stadium, however, burned tower can be very useful and I'd probably increase that to 2.  4 pokemon collector will help you fill up the bench early in the game, 4 rare candy will help evolve those emboars, and 4 communication will help you get the pokemon you need.  2 juniper, 4 PONT and 2-3 cheren should keep your hand full of what you need throughout the game, although adding 1-2 N could be helpful as well.  2-3 catcher will help you target your opponents' bench.  Since you're going to be discarding a lot of fire energy you'll need a lot of recovery.  A super rod will get pokemon back in the deck while 2-3 energy retrieval and 2-3 fisherman will keep the energy flowing.  4 junk arm will allow you to reuse any of your trainers. Since you can easily attach, retreat and recover energy, you can easily drop your switch down to 1.

The alph lithograph can be useful, but isn't necessary.  Same with the life herb and dual ball.  They can both be dropped to make room. I like the revive, but with rescue energy and super rod, you shouldn't need it, so dropping it will help as well.

Overall
You've combined 2 very good decks, but unfortunately they just don't work very well together.  I chose to review the reshiram portion of the deck since it still has a great shot in today's format with all the metal pokemon around.  If you'd like me to review the gengar portion separately, just let me know!  Good luck!

Skarmory Scizor - ProjectPokemonHQ

3-3 Scizor prime
2-2-1 aggron
1-1 ferrothorn EP (power whip)
1-1slowking
1 skarmory UD
1-1 forretress (spike spread)
Pokemon Total = 18

3 pont
1 pkmn collector
2 trickery
1 twins
1 interveiwers
2 scoop
1 flower shop
2 elms method
3 pkmn communication
2 pluspower
2 dual ball
2 switch
2 reversal
2 junk arm
1 energy exchanger
Supporter/Trainers = 27

4 sp. metal
11 basic metal
Energy Total = 15

Pokemon Analysis
There's quite a few different types of pokemon in your deck, and while they're all the same energy type, they don't all really work well together.  So I'm going to suggest dropping a few while increasing the others to make the deck more cohesive.  First, I'd add a cleffa.  It's great to get a new hand with as well as stalling during the game.  Scizor prime works great with skarmory, so I'd increase your skarmory to 3-4 to increase your chance of starting with it, then increase your scizor line to 4-4.  I don't really like forretress, aggron, slowking or ferrathorn.  Aggron is the only one that can be a decent hitter, but if you were to run it, I'd increase your line to a 3-2-2 at least and also make room for at least 2 rare candy.   Since you're running metal, coballion would be a great addition to the deck since it can be a primary attacker while you prepare your scizors.  2-3 of them should do.

Energy Analysis
If you find you need extra room in the deck for some additional trainers/supporters, then I'd drop a couple of your basic metal.  You should be safe running around 13 total energy.  Swapping out some metal energy for rescue energy might also help.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Instead of the dual ball, I'd run 4 pokemon collector to ensure that you can get your bench set up as quickly as possible.  While you're building up your scizors, you're likely going to lose a few prizes, so I'd increase your twins to at least 3.  Instead of the flower shop, I'd include a super rod that you could reuse if needed with junk arm (which I'd increase to 4).  I know this is an older list, so I'm sure that your reversal are now catcher instead.  Instead of the trickery, super scoop up, elm and interviewers, I'd include more draw/shuffle cards like maxing out your PONT, adding a couple of juniper and possibly adding a couple of N or cheren.  Since you run quite a few pokemon, maxing out your communication might help as well.

Overall
I think the idea of skarmory and scizor has some potential, but the other metal types just don't fit in as well.  Coballion is the best to fit with the scizor, but even he will fall easily to any fire deck.  However, with reshiphlosions popularity decreasing, you might be able to get this deck working well.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Zekrom Typhlosion Reshiram - LegoBoy1216

1-1 slowking prime
1 cleffa
1 tyrogue
1 zekrom
3 reshiram
2-1-1 typhlosion prime
3-2-3 jumpluff
Pokemon Total = 20

1 lost remover
1 energy switch
1 switch
1 plus power
1 rare candy
1 junk arm
2 scoop up
3 pokeball
4 oaks theory
4 energy retreval
4 pokemon communication
4 twins
Trainer/Supporter Total = 27

1 rescue energy
1 pyscic
1 rainbow
3 lightning
3 fire
4 grass
Energy Total = 13

Pokemon Analysis
This certainly isn't your typical typhlosion prime list since it includes 3 pokemon that you typically don't see in this deck - zekrom, slowking prime and jumpluff. While jumpluff can be a strong attacker, his low HP is just not enough for this format.  Since it's a stage 2, it's going to be a slow pokemon to get going unless you can easily draw into the rare candy.  For other fire decks, it's going to be an easy KO.  I'd try and focus on zekrom as an addition to the deck if you wanted something other than the typical reshiphlosion.  By adding 2 more zekrom and removing jumpluff, you should be able to handle any water deck that might give your fire pokemon trouble.  Zekrom is also great in many other match-ups, so it's certainly the better choice when compared to jumpluff.  I'd drop the slowking prime since it's just going to be catcher bait in a deck like this.  Tuning your trainers/supporters so you can draw into what you need will be more beneficial than wasting a bench space for a pokemon to help you draw.  It doesn't have that great of an attack either.  I'd increase your typhlosion prime to at least a 3-1-2 to ensure that you'll be able to use it.


Energy Analysis
Without the jumpluff and slowking, you won't need the rainbow, psychic or grass energy since you can focus on just lightning and fire.  If you wanted, you could also drop the lightning completely and just include 4 rainbow so that you could use it for both zekrom and reshiram, depending on what you need for a particular match.  Rescue energy is always useful, but you might want to increase it to 2.  I'd increase your fire to 7 to bring your energy total back up to 13.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
4 pokemon collector will help you get your bench full early in the game.  I'd include at least 2, if not 3, rare candy to help typhlosion evolve faster.  It's great that you have your communication maxed out, but I'd also add in 4 junk arm in case you need to reuse it or another other trainer. 2-3 catcher will help you take KO's on crucial pokemon in your opponents deck.  Another plus power will help you be able to get the KO on just about anything your opponent can throw at you.  In addition to the 4 PONT, I'd also include 2 juniper and 2-3 cheren for draw power.  You can reduce your energy retrieval to 2 and add in one super rod to be able to put pokemon and energy from your discard pile back into your deck.  You should be safe reducing your twins down to 2 as well since your opponent may have a hard time getting early KO's on your pokemon with larger HPs.  Any trainer that I haven't discussed yet can be safely dropped to make room for my suggestions.

Overall
This is a bit of a different take on the standard reshiphlosion deck.  I think the jumpluff would really slow it down, allowing your opponent to get a few easy KO's.  By focusing on just the reshiram and zekrom as your big attackers, your opponent should hopefully struggle to get consistent KO's, giving you time to set up your typhlosion.  Hope my suggestions help!!

Feraligatr Kyurem Beartic - cowheadman

3-1-3 Samurott (ability)
3-0-3 Feraligator (prime)
2-2 Beartic (holo)
4 Kyurem
1 Cleffa
Pokemon Total = 22

2 Rescue Energy
14 Water Energy
Energy Total = 16

1 N
4 Rare Candy
3 Interviewer's Questions
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Pokemon Communication
2 Energy Retrieval
3 Pokemon Catcher
1 Junk Arm
1 Flower Shop Lady
Trainer/Supporter Total = 22
 
Pokemon Analysis
If you run up against trainer-lock, you're going to really struggle since you have no way to get up a feraligatr outside of rare candy.  I've seen the best kyurem feraligatr deck run a heavy feraligatr line to ensure getting it out turn 2.  That means a 4-2-4 line.  I like the beartic line in the deck, but would consider dropping the samurott line to make room for the increased feraligatr line. Kyurem should be your main attacker anyways since glaciate is going to spread quite a bit of damage.  It will also allow you to use twins since glaciate will delay prizes for you.
 
Energy Analysis
I don't really have any suggestions for your energy count.  You'll need a high number to keep kyurems consistently powered up or for a retreat cost if feragatr is catcher'd up.  If you really need another card though, you could probably drop 2 of the water energy if you have recovery from the discard pile.
 
Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Instead of the flower shop lady, I'd swap it out for a super rod instead that you could reuse if necessary with junk arm (which I'd also increase to at least 3 if not 4).  In addition to the 2 energy retrieval, I'd add in 2 fisherman as well. It'll not only help with trainer lock, but if feraligatr is constantly catcher'd up, you may not always have a switch/junk arm for the switch (which I recommend adding at least one, if not two of).   Since glaciate won't be getting you early prizes, I'd utilize twins as much as possible (3-4).  That should ensure that you can get set up and can keep spreading.
 
With more draw power (2 juniper, increased N or adding PONT), you should be able to reduce your reliance on the interviewers, allowing you to decrease it to 1-2.  To further make room for some of my suggestions, I'd reduce the catcher to 2.  I might even drop a rare candy now that you don't have samurott (although that does reduce the chances of you being able to get the turn 2 feraliatr).  If you need any more room, reducing the water energy count will help. 
 
Overall
You have a very powerful deck already, it's only flaw is that feraligatr will be catcher'd up to stall, so you'll need to prepare for it by adding in extra recovery cards if you need to toss a lot of energy as well as switch.  Even so, decks that spread damage will eventually get you multiple prizes on a turn.  With the high HP of kyurem, you should pose a real threat to the meta!
 
  
 

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Cincinno Krookodile - 6cardman

2-1 Cinccino
3-3-2 krookodile EP
1-stantler
1-sawk BW
1-throh
Pokemon Total = 14

14-fighting
1-double colorless
1-rescue
Energy Total = 16

2-switch
1-great ball
1-pokedex
1-life herb
1-junk arm
4-pokemon communication
1-alphs litograph triupmhant
1-super scoop up
1-professor oak's new theroy
1-dual ball
1- interviwers question
1-revive
1-professor elms new theroy
1- fisherman
3-energy retrival
4-pluspower
2-flower shop lady
2-bianca
1-professor juniper
Trainers/Supporters = 30

Pokemon Analysis
Cincinno is a great fast attacker, so I'd max out your line at 4-4.  Your line of krookodile as a secondary attacker is already pretty strong.  In fact, I might take out a krokorok to make a little more room in the deck and add in some rare candy help speed up the evolution.  I like a cleffa in every deck to help you get set up if you have a bad hand.  Since you rely on a full bench, this deck may also benefit from pichu as well.  I don't think you really need the throh and sawk.

Energy Analysis
I'd max out your double colorless at 4, include another rescue for a total of 2, and then reduce your fighting energy down to 7.  With a little recovery and enough draw, you should be able to get your fighting energy pretty easily.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
You have several great supporters and trainers already, you just need more of them.  4 pokemon collector will help you get set up. 2 rare candy will help you get the krookodile up faster.  I'd keep the communication maxed out like you have it.  I'd keep one super rod in the deck for recovery instead of 2 flower shop girls.  You can always reuse it with the addition of 3 junk arms (for a total of 4).  You can reduce your switch down to 1 to make more room for draw/shuffle supporters like 4 PONT, 2-3 cheren and 2 juniper.  Adding in 2-3 catcher will help you bring up something critical on the bench.  You might not be able to get the first KO, so adding 1-2 twins should help you catch up.  If you find that you're often behind on prizes, increasing your number of twins should help.

Overall
I like how you've taken a theme deck and made it a little more powerful.  The biggest thing that theme decks often lack is enough trainers/supporters, so it's great that you added quite a bit to try and get the deck working.  I hope my suggestions help the deck improve even more!

MegaZone with Kingdra - DCHOMPERTHETOPDECKER

3-magnezone
1-magneton
3-magnemite
4-yanmega
4-yanma
1-kingdra
1-horsea
2-pachirisu
Pokemon - 19

4-judge
4-copycat
3-pokemon collecter
2-twins
1-flower shop
4-rare candy
4-pokemon communication
3-pokemon reversal (now catcher)
4-junk arm
2-switch
Trainers/supporters - 31

8-lightning
2-rescue
Energy - 10

Pokemon Analysis
With catcher, you'll want another magnemite and depending on much trainer lock there is in your area, you may also want a second magneton.  I find that a single pachirisu for energy acceleration is more than enough, because once you use it, it becomes a dead card.  One more horsea would ensure that you're able to see a kingdra come into play as well.  I like a cleffa in the deck just in case my starting hand is bad or in case I need to stall at some point later in the game.

Energy Analysis
I don't have any changes to suggest since 10 energy is typically enough for magnezone as long as you rely on your yanmega primarily for KO's.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Now that we have super rod, I'd replace the flower shop with it.  For consistency, I like to max out the pokemon collector to increase the chances of starting it on the first turn.  Since yanmega can take fast prizes, I typically don't run twins at all in the deck, however, if you like, running one may help.  The supporter N really works well in magnezone based decks, so I'd consider dropping a some of the copycat for it.  You should still be able to easily match your opponents hand size with it.

Overall
This deck was submitted several months ago, and while it may have taken me a while to review it (I wanted to do a video review of it), it's still a viable deck.  It's lost some of it's steam due to the increased number of electric decks (yanmegas weakness), however, since the meta in some areas seems to be constantly changing, it could still be an excellent deck to play (and as some have proved, can still win tournaments).

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Samurott Emboar - ThePikachuProject

1 reshiram
3-2-2 Emboar (1 ability, 1 non)
2 -1 Simisear
3-2-1 Stoutland
1-1 Suicune and Entei legend
4-3-2 Samurott (1 ability, 1 non)
Pokemon Total = 28

11 water
11 fire
Energy Total = 22

4 potion
3 switch
1 pokemon communication
1 legend box
1 cheerleader's cheer
Trainer/Supporter Total = 10


Pokemon Analysis
You have very strong lines of pokemon, bu there's so many of them that you don't have much room for trainers/supporters to be able to get the deck working as you want it to.  Your line of samurott is the strongest, so lets start with that one.  I'd include one more of each samurott so that you have the option of sniping or hitting hard each turn.  Your line of emboar is fairly strong too, but I'd max it out like samurott at 4-3-4 with 2 of each type of emboar.   I'd drop the stoutland, legend, simisear and reshiram to make room for trainers and supporters.  The only other pokemon I'd recommend is a cleffa in case you need a new hand or need to stall.

Energy Analysis
Again, we need more room for trainers and supporters to try and make this deck work, so reduce your energy line 8 fire and 6 water.  Both samurotts can attack without water energy which is why I'm putting more emphasis on the fire energy.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
You'll need 4 pokemon collector to fill up your bench fast.  4 rare candy will allow you to quickly evolve and 4 pokemon communication will help you get any pokemon you need into your hand.  I'd reduce your switch to 2 and add in many other trainers like 2-3 pokemon catcher to bring up your opponents bench, 4 junk arm to reuse trainers and 1 super rod to put pokemon and energy back into your deck. Now all we need is shuffle/draw power.  4 professor oaks new theory, 2-3 cheren and 2-3 juniper should help you draw into what you need.  Since I suggested dropping legend, you won't need the legend box. I'd also drop the potion since it's more important to get your strong pokemon out fast than worry about healing them.  Everything you run has pretty high HP, so it'll take some work from your opponent to knock them out.  Since you're running multiple stage 2 pokemon, you'll likely lose a few in their earlier stages before you get them running.  That will allow you to use twins to help you finish getting set up.

Overall
I've never tried a combination of all the emboars and samurotts before, but it could possibly work out well.  Ability emboar will provide energy to everything and you can use your manual attachment to put water onto ability samurott to increase it's hitting power.  The different types should help cover their respective weaknesses too.  Good luck with this deck!

Ambipom/Weavile - ThePokeSpear

3-3 Ambipom (TM)
3-3 Weavile
2-2 Slowking
2-2 Donphan
2-2 Vileplume
1 Cleffa
1 Tyrogue
1 Boufallant
Pokemon Total = 27

2 Rare Candy
4 Pokemon Collector
4 PONT
3 Professor Juniper
4 Seeker
2 Judge
2 Elm
Trainer/Supporter Total = 21

4 Double Colorless
4 Rainbow
4 Special Dark
Energy Total = 12

This is a deck that was submitted several months ago, that sadly I'm just now getting around to reviewing. It was a great deck that may not have been meta, but once set up, worked amazingly well!  I intended to do a video for it, but just haven't had the time.

Deck Strategy
This is a disruption deck.  When weaville evolves, you get to discard one of your opponents cards in their hand.  Ambipoms first attack lets you randomly choose 2 of the cards in your opponents hand and shuffle them back in.  Slowking lets you rearreange the top cards of your opponents deck, so once you bring down their hand size, you control what they draw into.  Vileplume prevents them from using trainers, meaning that if  you can get set up, you can discard non-trainers and force them to draw into more trainers.  Hopefully this prevents them from playing their deck like they intend and allow you to take slow knockouts with boufallant and donphan.

Pokemon Analysis
I like the combination of weaville and slowking, but ambipom may not fit in as well.  Since it requires your opponent to shuffle, you wouldn't be able to use slowking's power on their deck and they could potentially draw into something they can use.  Donphan is a great attacker, but without being able to use switch, he'll often be stuck in the active position.  If your opponent is running a deck that snipes or spreads, without reuniclus to move around that damage, you're going to be in trouble.  I'd look at something that has a free retreat as your main attacker, like yanmega prime or something that can utilize the DCE like cincinno.  Otherwise, possibly run a dodrio to help with the retreat costs. I'd run a 3rd oddish with pokemon catcher being in the format and a gloom.  Instead of tyrogue, I'd run pichu instead to help you get those oddishes out the first turn.

Energy Analysis
I don't have any suggestions to the energy line since it works well for your pokemon lines (even if you switch some of them up as I've suggested).

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
I find that when running vileplume, 3 rare candy and 3 communication are what's needed to get it out consistently on turn 2.   If you decide to include yanmega, I'd increase the number of judge and add some copycat as well.  To make room for them, dropping the seeker, a juniper and elm should work.  Vileplume decks typically aren't able to take the first prize, so I'd include 3-4 twins to ensure that you're getting set up as fast as possible.

Overall
I don't have that many suggestions for the deck, and the ones I have now are only because the game has changed a bit in the past 6 months with the release of newer sets.  I apologize again for taking so long to get your review done, but despite the lag in time, I think this is still an excellent disruption deck with some "rogue" potential!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Eeveelutions - Kennethih

1 Magby
1 Tyrouge
1 Cleffa
4 Eevee
1 Umbreon
1 Espeon
1 Vaporeon
2-1 Cinccino
1 Absol PRIME
1 Spiritomb
3-1 Mismagius
1 Lugia
Pokemon Total = 20

7 Psychic
7 Water
4 Dark
Energy Total = 18

2 Potion
1 Revive
1 Life Herb
3 Pkmn Communication
2 Switch
2 Dual Ball
1 Energy Retrieval
1 Research Record
2 Team Rocket's Trickery
2 PONT
1 Collector
1 Twins
1 Interviewer's questions
1 Copycat
1 Juniper
Trainer/Supporter Total = 22


Pokemon Analysis
You have quite a few different pokemon in your deck and I think you'll often find when playing it that you're unable to get the specific evolution out that you want because you only run one it.  When you only run one of a card, you'll often find that when it's prized, it can severely hurt your game.  So my first suggestion is to focus on only a few different pokemon.  Cincinno is a great hitter since it can do 100 with a full bench.  So I'd increase the line to 4-3 or 4-4.  You have quite a few eeveelutions, but perhaps focusing on only a few of them will help.  Umbreon can block powers and bodies while espeon can move damage counters around. So I'd run 2 of each and drop the vaporeon.  While babies are useful in the format, too many babies will mean that you're giving up easy prizes.  One cleffa should be all you need for a hand refresher/staller.  However, tyrogue may be useful as the extra bench space to power up cincinno, so if you have the room, it should be safe to include as well.  All the other pokemon in the deck can be dropped to make room for the new additions.   If  you find that you really need another great attacker, zoroark from BW would be a great addition (a 2-2 line).

Energy Analysis
Since you no longer run water if you're dropping vaporeon, you won't need the water energy.  You can easily make use of double colorless energy, primarily with cincinno, so I'd max them out at 4.  Since you run some different energy types, I'd include rainbow energy since it can fit well with any of your pokemon.    Since you're running a lot of special energy, you could suffer from a deck that runs a lot of lost remover trainers, so adding in a few basic energy should finish off your energy line (2-3 of psychic and dark).  If you find that you don't have a lot of lost remover in your area, you can easily make your basic dark into special dark so you can hit more.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Now that we've streamlined your pokemon lines and reduced your energy, we can work on your trainers and supporters, which will determine if this deck can run or not.  4 pokemon collector will ensure that you get a full bench early in the game.  4 pokemon communication will help you get out the exact pokemon you need for evolutions.  You'll probably lose a few prizes early in the game, so 2-3 twins will help you finish setting up to be able to make a comeback. I'd reduce your switch to one since you have pokemon with fairly low retreat costs.  Increasing your PONT to 4, 2-3 cheren and 2 juniper will help you shuffle/draw into what you need.  You'll need 2-3 pokemon catcher to be able to bring up heavy retreaters to stall or bring up weaker/vital tech pokemon for knockouts.  4 junk arms will allow you to reuse any trainer in your discard pile.  A super rod will provide a little recovery.  The other trainers/supporters in the deck should be safe to drop (potion, revive, life herb, dual ball, energy retrieval, research record, team rockets trickery, interviewers and copycat).  By running multiples of a card, you run a higher chance of being able to draw into it.

Overall
Now that everything is more focused, you should have an easier time running the deck.  Good luck!!

Kingdra Cincinno -ccastan15

3-1-3 kingdra (2 prime, 1 non)
4-4 cinccino
1-1 zoroark
2 manaphy
Pokemon Total = 19

4 double colorless
2 rescue
6 water
Energy Total = 12

4 rare candy
4 junk arm
3 communication
2 dual ball
2 collector
2 revive
1 flowershop
1 twins
4 pluspower
3 oaks
2 elms
Trainer/Supporter Total = 28

Pokemon Analysis
This is one of my favorite non-meta decks and one that I have built currently.  I prefer a single cleffa over the manaphy since it's something that you may never use in a game.  With catcher, I'd like to increase the horsea number to 4 as well as add in another seadra in case you encounter a lot of trainer lock.  I'd include one more kingdra prime so that in case one if prized, you can ensure getting at least 2 set up fairly early.

Energy Analysis
Perfect, I wouldn't change a thing.  Maxing out your DCE is perfect since both zoroark, cincinno and the non-prime kingdra can utilize them, rescue is going to help you reuse your pokemon and water is for attacking  with kingdra (just in case).

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
I'd max out your collector to 4 instead of having a combination of dual ball and collector.  I'd swap your flower shop for a super rod since it doesn't use your supporter for the turn and you can reuse it with junk arm.  I'd drop the pluspower since kingdra will allow you to put the additional damage on that you need.  You can also drop the revive and the elm since you need at least 2-3 catcher in the deck as well as some more shuffle/draw power.  In addition to the 3 oaks, I'd consider adding in 2 juniper and some cheren (2-3).

Overall
I don't have too many suggestions for your deck since it already appears to be pretty consistent.  The slight change in trainers/supporters should help you get set up a little faster.  If you find that you need a little more room in the deck, you may be able to drop the zoroark line since hitting for 100 with spreading damage counters should be enough to take out quite a few different types of pokemon.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Magnezone Ampharos and more - MrPokeboy2000

1-1 ursaring
1 hitmonchan
1 hitmonlee
1 hitmontop
1 groudon
1-1 jolteon
2-2-1 ampharos prime
1-1 lucario
2-2-1 magnezone prime
1-1 donphan
2-2-1 pidgeot
Pokemon Total = 27


1 life herb
1 rare candy
2 professor oak's new theory
3 seeker
2 communication
2 black belt
3 twins
2 interviewers questions
1 engineers adjustments
1 professor elms training method
Trainer/Supporter Total = 18

4 rescue energy
6 fighting energy
5 electric energy
Energy Total = 15

Pokemon Analysis
You have way too many different pokemon to effectively be able to use them all.  It would be better to focus on increasing the numbers of the pokemon that you work well together.  While good basics can often work well together, you're going to have a hard time finding your evolution lines since there's such a low number of them.  Having multiple stage 2 pokemon is going to be difficult to run as well since something can easily be catcher'd up and KO'd before it has a chance to evolve.  I don't really like your basic fighting pokemon.  None are incredibly strong with great attacks.  Donphan however, is a great pokemon, even in the non-prime form.  It relies on a flip, however, we can counter that by adding a few victini to the deck.  So a strong line of donphan (4-3 or 4-4) with 2 victini, should give you a great attacker.  Donphan is great in the current format because of all the electric decks around.  However, magnezone prime is one of the best cards in the format since it acts a draw engine and can also knock out anything in one hit if is has enough energy to lost burn.  So I'd increase your magnezone line to a 4-2-3.  This will ensure that you can keep up your draw power as well as attack.  All the other pokemon in the deck can be dropped. I'd add in a cleffa for new hands/potential stalling, but that's it.

Energy Analysis
Donphan can benefit from DCE, so I'd add in 4 of them.  That brings your energy count up to 15 which should give you more than enough energy for many lost burns with Magnezone.  If you find you need more room in the deck you can reduce each type of energy by one to bring the total down to 13.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
You have quite a few good trainers and supporters already, but I think there's several changes that can be made to get this deck working.  4 collector will ensure a fast start by filling up the bench.  3 rare candy with 3-4 communication will help get your evolutions out rather than using elm (you can just drop it).  I like the 3 twins since this deck might lose a few pokemon before being able to really start attacking, but I'd either just stick with 3 twins or go with 2 twins and 1 black belt rather than having high numbers of both.  You'll need more shuffle and draw power to help you get set up.  4 PONT, possibly juniper or sage, 2-3 cheren and around 3 N will help you draw into what you need.  I'd cut out the engineers so you don't have to waste energy as well as the interviewers since I think with all the shuffle/draw power and the high energy count, you won't have a problem getting energy.  For a little recovery, I'd recommend a super rod and 4 junk arm so you can reuse it or any other trainer in your deck.  Pokemon catcher will help you drag up easy pokemon for KO's (include 2-3) or bring up something to stall while you get set up.  I'd  drop the life herb and seeker.  Since you have some heavy retreaters, I'd add in 2 switch.  That might save something from being KO'd as well as bring up something that has a type advantage.

Overall
I think once you streamline your deck to only a few pokemon that have strong lines and work well together, you'll find that you'll be able to perform much better with this deck.  Enjoy!

Typhlosion Reshiram Magmortar - WindWakerStudios

2 Zekrom
2 Reshiram
3-2 Raichu HgSs
3-2-3 Typhlosion Prime
1-1 Magmortatr HgSs
1 Rotom Undaunted
1-1-1 Emboar
Pokemon Total = 23

3 Pokemon Communication
2 Junk Arm
2 Prof.Oaks Theory
2 Prof. Elms training Method
2 Energy Retrieval
4 Energy search
1 Rare Candy
1 Energy switch
Trainer/Supporter Total =17

8 Electric energy
10 Fire Energy
2 Double Colorless
Energy Total = 20


Pokemon Analysis
I understand including electric pokemon to cover your fire pokemon's weakness to water.  However, your pokemon lines don't really work well together.  You have so many pokemon and energy in the deck that you don't have enough room for the trainers/supporters you'll need to really get this deck working.  I'd recommend dropping the rotom, emboar, raichu and magmortar.  Basically, I'd make this a reshiram typhlosion deck with a couple of zekrom in to cover your weakness, however, with reshiram hitting for 120, the current water decks really don't have that strong an advantage over you.  You still have to worry about water pokemon with alternate weaknesses like kyurems weakness to metal or feraligatrs weakness to grass. Electric really just isnt dependable for weakness coverage.  You can still use it's first attack with just outrage.  I'd increase your line of reshiram to 4, typhlosion to 4-2-4 and add in one cleffa.  

Energy Analysis
With typhlosion being your energy acceleration, I'd drop the lightning and the DCE.  If you want to add some more energy, a couple of rescue energy to be able to reuse your reshiram.

Trainer/Supporter Analyisis
4 collector will help you fill up the bench fast.  Increase your junk arm to 4, rare candy to 3 and add in around 3 catcher and 1 switch. You shouldnt need energy switch or energy search.  More hand refreshers/draw power will help you get those energy into your hand.  4 professor oaks new theory, 2 juniper,  a few N and a few cheren should be able to help you get what you need.  You shouldn't need elms training method because you can always use the combination of collector/communication (it's more consistent than elm as your supporter for the turn).

Overall
As your deck stand now, it's too spread out to be able to be able to get set up.  Focusing on only a few of your pokemon lines, decreasing your energy and increasing your trainers and supporters will help you really get set up.  If you don't like the idea of running a reshiphlosion deck (possibly too meta for you), i'd look into some of the electric lines with Eelektrik as energy acceleration.  Raichu Eelekrik hasn't been recognized as a meta deck, yet it's fairly powerful and might be something fun to try out.   Thanks for submitting!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Reshiram Emboar Audino - TheFireWyrm

4 Reshiram
3-3-3 Ability Emboar
2-2 Volcarona
3-3 Zoroark
2 Audino
Pokemon Total = 25

3 Rare Candy
2 Super Rod
1 Energy search
2 Pokemon Catcher EP
3 Pokemon Communication
Trainer/Supporter Total = 11

18 Fire Energy
6 Dark Energy
Energy Total = 24

Pokemon Analysis
While you have some great lines of pokemon, your trainer/supporter line is fairly small and your energy count is too big.  So I'm going to suggest cutting down your pokemon and energy lines to be able to make more room for the trainer/supporters.  Since emboar is providing a steady stream of energy, you don't need volcarona to recycle them back as an attack.  There are trainer/supporters that can do the same thing without wasting an attack.  Since you can hit for 120, there's not much that can consistently take that, so a zoroark line isn't needed.  I love the idea of an audino with emboar, but it would work much better with fliptini.  That would allow you to reflip for more damage if you flipped poorly the first time.  A couple of fliptini would be all you need. For the ability emboar line, a 4-2-3 line would be much stronger with pokemon catcher in the format.  You could even swap one of the ability emboars for one of the bad boars for a secondary attacker.

Energy analysis
Since I suggested removing zoroark completely, you won't need the dark.  There's no need for that much fire energy in the deck.  14 should be more than enough (if you find you need more room, you could easily go down to 12).  I'd also consider taking out a couple of fire energy for rescue energy so that you can reuse pokemon (mainly reshiram) that are knocked out.

Trainer/Supporter Total
4 collector will help you get your basics out fast.  You should only need one recovery card, so dropping a super rod will help make room.  Instead of energy search, I'd add in one interviewers questions.    Other trainers that should be included are 4 junk arm, 4 Professor Oaks New Theory, 2-3 fisherman, 2-3 energy retrieval, 1 switch, at least 3 cheren and possibly 2-3 sage as well.  That should help you get through your deck to get set up as fast as possible.

Overall
By using energy retrieval and fisherman instead of volcarona, you can recycle your energy without using an attack, meaning that you'll be able to hit harder each turn.  The audino/fliptini combination is something that I dont think many people will see coming and can be great if you're running up against water decks.  I realize that I didn't post this review fast enough for your upcoming tournament, but since there's still a few weeks before the next set is released, hopefully you'll be able to play it here and there. Thanks again for submitting!

Tyrannitar Kricketune - thepurplethunder11

3-2-1 Tyrannitar
1-1 Dodrio
2-1 Kricketune
1 Jirachi
1 Spritomb
Pokemon Total = 13

1 twins
4 engineers adjustments
2 revive
2 sages
1 junk arm
2 defender
2 elms
2 pokeballs
3 communication
1 dual ball
2 copycat
4 PONT
1 black belt
2 energy retrival
2 switch
1 interviewer
1 flower shop lady
Trainers/Supporters = 33

1 dce
6 fighting
2 physic
1 darkness
1 special darkness
3 grass
Energy Total = 14

Pokemon Analysis
You're running a fairly small number of pokemon. I'm concerned that even if you do get your main attackers into play, once they're knocked out, you don't really have any other options.  So first, we should strengthen the pokemon lines.  Add in one cleffa to refresh your hand.  I'm going to assume that your running the non prime ttar since you didn't specify in the list that you were running the prime.   So I'd recommend a 4-2-3 line of ttar, with 2-2 dodrio, and 3-2 kricketune.  I suggest taking out the jirachi and spiritomb to remove the extra energy type in the deck.  Since kricketune's best attack relies on flips, adding a couple of fliptini would increase the probability of doing more damage.

Energy Analysis
4 DCE will help get your ttar powered up fairly fast.  Your main attacker is dark, so you'll want to focus mostly on dark energy.  I'd add 4 special dark and 2 regular dark energy.  Your kricketune needs grass energy, so I'd include 4 of them since it requires at least 2 grass for its best attack.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
You have quite a few trainers/supporters and hit on many of the ones that you need, we just need to increase the amounts of some of them.  I'd start off with 4 collector to ensure a fast start.  Since your main attacker is a stage 2, three rare candy will help you get it up fast.  Your likely going to be down a few prizes to start with, so having 2-3 twins and possibly 1 black belt will help you get caught up.  The 4 PONT is great, but I'd also add 1-2 juniper and 3-4 cheren. For recovery, a single super rod should do.  Cards I think you can drop are the copycat, dual ball, energy retrieval, pokeball, elm, defender, sage, revive and engineer.  They're all great cards, but there's others that work better with this deck.  Adding in 3 catcher will help you catch up on the prizes or even stall for a while.  4 junk arms will allow you to reuse any trainers.  


Overall
I like the attacks of both kricketune and tyrannitar, but I'm not sure how they work well together.  I can see this deck struggling in tournaments, even with a modified trainer/supporter line.  However, since ttar has a pretty high HP, you might stand a good chance if you can get it going and can get a little luck with kricketune flips!  Have fun!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Chandelure Reuniclus Cofagriigus - RandomBoyDan

4-2-3 Chandulure
3-3 Cofagriigus (Damiigriugus)
3-1-2 Reuniclus
2 First contact Elygem
Pokemon Total = 23

3 Cheren
2 Juniper
3 N
2 PONT
3 Catcher
3 Junk arm
4 Rare candy
2 Eviolite
3 Communication
2 Switch
Trainer/Supporter = 27

8 Psychic
2 Rescue
2 DCE
Energy Total = 12

Pokemon Analysis
You say that you're running the first contact elygem because you lack collectors (too expensive).  I'd look into ebay auctions to find some cheap ones.  You can get them on sites for around $6 each, but on ebay  you should be able to easily get them for 3-4 max.  Or you can always trade for them.  However, if you still insist on no collectors, I'd go with pichu instead.  You'll fill up your entire bench in a single turn and have a 50% chance of not getting hurt during your next turn.  For your other pokemon lines, they're perfect.  My only concern is that the reuniclus is a big part of the deck, but without vileplume it's catcher bait.  While making this a vileplume deck is possible, that would require basically two reviews.  So if you'd like me to review it with a vileplume line in it, let me know, otherwise, we'll just go with the list you have now and see if we can't get it working fast enough to be able to afford losing a reuniclus.  Something else to consider is one, possibly two, jirachi.  You can spread damage with chandelure, then use jirachi to not only get energy cards back from the discard pile, but then level your opponent down into knockouts.

Energy Analysis
I dont think you need the DCE.  While it could come in handy for cofagriigus' second attack, you're should be using that pokemon mainly for the first attack, then using switch to get back to chandelure to do more damage.  While you should be fine with a low energy cost of 10, going up to 12 by replacing the 2 DCE with 2 psychic couldn't hurt.  But if you find that you really need another card in the deck, you could always reduce it later.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
Again, I'll recommend 4 collector, but if not, you'll need more communication and some dual ball to be able to get out your pichu (or elgyem depending on what you decide on) as fast as possible to fill up the bench.  Eviolite only works on basic pokemon, so without strong basic attackers, it's not very useful in this deck.  That space would be better used by a 2-3 Twins since you'll likely be losing your basic searchers early on.  I'd also try and find room for a super rod. That will let you easily reduce your energy count since you can always use the super rod to get it back, and then reuse it if you need to with junk arm (which I would increase to 4).

Your deck doesn't run very well late game with a low hand.  You'll still need resources for switching your pokemon around to do damage, possibly attach energy, etc....  So I would take out the N and replace it with a maxed out PONT line and possibly max out the cheren as well.

Overall
You have an excellent variation of the chandelure deck already.  I think with a bit of tweaking, especially without collectors, you'll find that you're able to set up a little bit faster.

Magmortar Emboar - Jayben317

3-2-2 Emboar (1 ability, 1 non)
4-4 Simisear
2-1 Magmortar
4- 2 Cincinno
Pokemon Total = 24

4 juniper
4 PONT
3 pokemon communacation
3 revive
2 interviwers questions
2 pokeballs
2 energy search
2 energy retrieval
Trainer/Supporter Total = 22

12 fire energy
2 rainbow energy
Energy Total = 14

Pokemon Analysis
Your ability emboar is your energy acceleration, so I'd increase it to 4-2-3 with two of the ability and one non ability as another attacker.  I think you should increase your magmortar line to 4-3.  This is the perfect way to start out your game.  Get a magmortar and emboar into play, and use "Top Burner" to discard as many cards as you can (the attack discards 1 card for each energy).  Add in 2-3 fliptini in case you flip tails, so you can reflip to prevent your energy from being discarded.  I dont think you need the simisear since magmortar and your non ability emboar can do some decent damage themselves.  But I do like the cincinno line in case you run up against a water deck.  You should be safe running a 3-2 cincinno line.

Energy Analysis
You have no need for rainbow energy in a fire/colorless deck, so I'd just run the 12 fire energy.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
You'll need 4 collector to get your basics out as fast as possible.  To get that emboar going, I'd max out your rare candy and pokemon communication at 4 each.  In case your energy is discarded, you'll need 3 fisherman and 3 retrieval to get it back.  4 junk arm will let you reuse your trainers.  You'll need a switch in case your emboar is catcher'd up and about 3 catcher of your own. I'd reduce your juniper down to 2, but keep your PONT at 4. Keeping one interviewers should be alright, but you'll probably get by fine with none as long as you keep enough shuffle/draw cards in your deck.  I'd consider running 4 sage to try and get that emboar out faster (with a high number of cards to get fire energy back, you can safely discard fire energy off of the sage).  You can also try out cheren for extra draw power.  For a little recovery, I'd add in a super rod.  If you can get a steady stream of magmortars going, you'll likely win just by decking your opponent.  So adding in 3-4 twins will help you keep going. You shouldn't need the pokeball or energy search.

Overall
I like the idea of this deck, essentially decking your opponent, but still being able to attack if needed for prizes.  The trainer/supporter line will take a bit of tweaking to really get this deck working, but I think it has some potential.  Thanks for submitting it and I apologize for taking so long to review it!