Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Chandelure Arcanine Darmanitan and more - kpomm

2-2 arcanine
2-2 darmanitan
1 moltres 
2-2 raichu 
1 pichu 
2-2-1 ampharos 
3-2-1 chandelure
2-1 persian
Pokemon = 27

2 pokemon communication
2 cilan
2 energy retrieval
2 energy search 
1 skyarrow bridge
2 heavy ball
2 cheren 
T/S/S = 13

fire energy-11
electric energy-6 
Energy = 17

Strategy
This is another deck that doesn't have a specific strategy.  It just plays whatever it has in hand, evolving pokemon that it draws the basic of. With almost half the deck comprised of pokemon that don't have anything to do with each other other than type, there's not a specific strategy except for getting evolved pokemon up for KO's.

Pokemon Analysis
Each deck should have pokemon that work well with each other, like eelektrik recycling energy for the lightning pokemon on the bench, or dodrio providing free retreat for psychic chandelure so it can use it's ability multiple times per turn.  Chandelure is a spread attacker, so possibly adding in other spread attackers like kyurem or pokemon that can target pokemon with damage on it like mandibuzz would work.  Arcanine burns it's opponent when it's attacked, so possibly combining it with leafeon that does more damage when the opponent is affected by a special condition would work.  There's dozens of options, so you should look into what would work for you.

Energy Analysis
Try and stick to 10-14 energy in a deck.  Anything more than that is taking up too much space.

T/S/S Analysis
A typical deck should have 3-4 collector, around 10 draw supporters (N, PONT, cheren, juniper, sage, etc....), a recovery card (super rod), pokemon searchers as trainers (heavy ball, level ball, communication), catcher, junk arm and switch.  Unless you're continuously discarding energy, you shouldn't need energy retrieval.  With lots of draw support, you shouldn't need cilan or energy search either.  Skyarrow only works on basics, so it's best used in decks that run powerful basics like reshiram, kyurem, zekrom, etc....

Overall
I'm sorry I couldn't give you a more specific deck review, but until you decide which pokemon you want to focus on and a specific strategy, there's not much else to comment on other than the basics that I've listed above.  I hope this helps out!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Reshiram Typhlosion - Aznboyzful

4-2-4 Typhosion
3 Reshiram
1 Reshiram ex
1 Mewtwo Ex
1 zekrom (could be terrakion)

1 cleffa 
Pokemon = 17

4 sages training
3 plus power
3 communication
3 collector
1 juniper
2 switch
4 junk arm
3 rare candy
1 super rod
2 pokemon catcher
1 professor oaks new theory
T/S/S = 27

2 double colorless
10 fire
3 electric 
Energy = 15

Strategy 
This is a newer version of the popular reshiphlosion deck.  With reshiram EX, you can hit harder, KOing many pokemon that you had to use plus power on before with just the regular reshiram.  Typhlosion is the energy acceleration of the deck, attaching energy to any pokemon from the discard pile. Mewtwo EX is to counter other Mewtwo EX's and zekrom is to counter water types that have the type advantage over this fire deck.

Pokemon Analysis
With lightning decks being the most popular decks in the format right now, it would be a good idea to swap your single zekrom for a terrakion.  Other than that, I see no other changes that I would make to your pokemon lines.

Energy Analysis
15 is a bit too high for this deck.  Since both Mewtwo EX and Reshiram EX rely on DCE, I'd increase it to at least 3, if not 4.  2-3 prism energy will work for terrakion (and in the case that you don't need it, can also be counted as fire).  The rest of the deck should be fire (which should be around 8 depending on how many special energy you put in).

T/S/S Analysis
Once you're set up, you can easily work from the field rather than from your hand, making your deck perfect for N.  I'd swap out sage for N to give your opponent quite a bit of disruption.  The biggest thing that's missing from this deck is more draw power.  I'd add in another 2-3 juniper and another 2-3 PONT.  To help make room for them, I'd reduce the plus power. (Between the energy reduction and plus power reduction, you should have enough for these additions).

Overall
You have an excellent deck already!  I see it struggling against speed decks like Zekeels, even with terrakion.  You may need to find some room for twins if you do struggle against that match up since it's something that you're going to be seeing a lot of at tournaments.

Crobat Mew Donphan Chandelure - The2TCG

3-1-3 chandelure
1 victini
2-2 donphan prime
3-1-3 crobat prime
4 Mew prime

Pokemon = 23

4 twins
2 switch
3 PONT
4 Rare candy
1 super rod
3 communication
2 collector
2 Max potion
3 catcher
T/S/S = 24

10 psychic
3 rainbow energy 
Energy = 13

Strategy
This deck relies on the low energy costing crobat prime to heavy poison your opponent, as well as snipe the bench.  Mew prime allows you to see of a pokemon into the lost zone, then use it's attacks as your own.  Donphan is to counter all of the lightning decks in format since it's easy to set up and can KO almost anything with just its first attack.  Chandelure allows you to place damage counters, similar to crobat, but as an ability, leaving you free to attack for more damage.  

Pokemon Analysis
Two stage 2 pokemon are going to be difficult to set up, even with rare candy.  Mew is a great idea to fix that problem, but it just doesn't have the HP to withstand many attacks.  It seems like you've added two decks together that don't really belong together.  Mew decks typically work with vileplume to slow down their opponent, and use a variety of different pokemon in the lost zone like jumpluff, muk and the fire chandelure.  It can also work off of prism energy. If you decide to go with this deck, you'll need 4 mew, 1-2 jumpluff, 2 muk, 1-2 donphan and 1-2 fire chandelure.  If you run vileplume with it, you won't want to run donphan on the bench since it's such a heavy retreater. Instead, try yanmega.  A psychic chandelure deck is much different and much more expensive since you need tropical beach stadiums which are $80+ each.  I'm going to review the rest of the deck as if it were a Mew deck as I've described.  The vileplume line should be 3-1-2 with 1 pichu and 1 cleffa.

Energy Analysis
4 prism will let mew use any of the pokemon attacks that it wants.  I'd recommend around 13 energy in the deck, so I'd add in 4 rainbow and 5 psychic.  You could also split that basic psychic up to include other basic energy depending on what you decided to focus on.  For example, if you wanted to put more donphan in the lost zone, then adding a few basic fighting might work better.

Trainer/Supporter Analysis
With vileplume decks the only trainers you'd play would be 3 candy and 3 communication.  The rest would be supporters like 4 twins, 4 collector, 3 judge and 3 copycat. If you have anymore room in the deck, look into adding PONT, juniper and cheren.

Overall
You asked for a deck review before going to buy the cards.  This is an excellent idea.  If you haven't already, I'd try playtesting with proxies (fake cards), that will show you how well the deck works and let you tweak it before you buy. Let me know if you need help with certain cards since most of this deck I have for sale and can give you a better deal than many popular websites.

Kyurem Samurott Feraligatr Beartic - krunglothar

2-1-2 Samurott (32)
2-1-2 Feraligatr (Prime)
2-2 Beartic (30)
2 Manaphy
1 Cryogonal (33)
1 Kyurem
1 Kyurem-EX
Pokemon Total - 19

4 Oak´s New Theory
3 Pokemon Communication
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Switch
2 Energy Retrieval
2 Cilan
2 Cheren
2 Rare Candy
2 Pokemon Catcher
1 Fisherman
1 Twins
1 Super Rod
1 Juniper
Trainer/Supporter Total - 26

3 Double Colorless Energy
12 Water Energy
Energy Total - 15 


Strategy
This deck uses the energy acceleration of feraligatr to power up kyurem or kyurem EX for quick prizes.  While either of those is active, beartic and samurott can be built up on the bench.  Beartic can prevent your opponent from attacking while samurott hits more for each energy attached.

Pokemon Analysis
Getting up multiple stage 2 pokemon is going to be difficult, so I'd suggest dropping the samurott. That should give you a lot of room in the deck and help you get moving faster.  Your deck relies around feraligatr prime getting set up early in the game, so I'd increase the line to a 3-2-3.  I'd drop the cryogonal since your other water basics are much stronger.  I'd also drop the two manaphy for a single cleffa if you want a hand refresher.

Energy Analysis
Sticking to around 13-14 energy will give you a few more spaces in the deck for other cards.  I might even max out your DCE since so many pokemon can use it, and reduce your water down to 9-10.

T/S/S Analysis
It looks like you already have an excellent line of trainers and supporters! I would cnosider adding 4 junk arm to be able to reuse any of your trainers. You should have room for it after dropping some of the cards I suggested earlier.

Overall
You have an excellent deck whose only downside is that it needs to run on evolutions.  This is going to slow the deck down significantly.  You'll likely struggle against Mewtwo decks especially with their high speed.  I'd consider running one Mewtwo simply to counter other mewtwos.  You may find that you need to increase your twins count to help you keep up with some of the faster decks.  Good luck!

Yanmega Serperior Cincinno - thejoefoshooo

3-3 yanmega prime
1 celebi
2-2-2 serperior ability
2 virizion EP
2-2 Cinccino BW
1 tyrouge
1 cleffa

Pokemon = 21

1 switch
1 flower shop
1 juniper
1 skyarrow bridge
2 collector
1 dual ball
3 PONT
3 Pokemon communication
1 twins
3 copycat
3 judge
T/S/S = 20

2 DCE
3 Psychic
10 grass 
Energy = 15

Strategy
This is a 'heal and hit' deck.  You have attackers like cincinno that just hit the active, yanmega who can hit the active or the bench and virizion who hits and heals itself. Ability serperior helps heal pokemon in between turns.  Cleffa is for a hand refresher and tyrogue is a quick hitter.  Celebi is to attach more energy per turn, helping to speed up the deck. 

Pokemon Analysis
The virizion from NV is a much better pokemon since it lets you draw cards and can do up to 80 each turn.  I would swap the virizions out.  I'd drop the cleffa since you have a draw virizion and drop the tyrogue as well.  It's not worth it to run babies if you can find a way around it (like using virizion instead of cleffa), since donks are more possible with Mewtwo EX in the format.  If you can get multiple serperior on the bench, you can heal quite a bit, so I'd increase your line to 3-2-3. However, all of your pokemon can be KO'd in one hit by many of the EX's anyways.  You don't need much energy to attack in this deck, so I'd drop the celebi.

Energy Analysis
I'd try and stick to around 12 energy for this deck, especially since you don't need much energy to attack.  4 DCE and 8 grass should be all that you need.  

T/S/S
You'll need 4 collector to get your basics on the bench as soon as possible (this will allow you to drop the dual ball).  You'll likely be behind as you try and set up your serperior, so increasing your twins to 2-3 will help.  Instead of flower shop, run super rod with 4 junk arm.  This will let you reuse it, as well as other trainers.  You don't hit very hard, so you'll need 3-4 catcher to target specific (ideally weaker) pokemon.  Increasing your juniper to 2-3 should also help get you going.

Overall
Right now this seems more of a fun deck since everything can easily be one shot by an EX.  Your  deck is also a few cards short of 60, so that gives you some room to possibly play around with, adding your own EXs like Mewtwo and Shaymin, which can easily work with what you already have.

Chandelure Weaville Nuzleaf and more - swfan9167

2-1-1 Chandelure 
2-1 Weavile 
3-1 Scrafty  

3 Growlithe

1 Entei (ability) 
3-2 Nuzleafs
1 Magby (ability) 
Pokemon = 21

2 Energy Searches
2 Level balls 
2 Pokemon Communications
2 Potions
2 Bills
2 Cilans
1 Emcee 2 Engineer's Adjustments
2 Interviewer's Questions 
1 Elm's method
1 Juniper 
2 Pokemon Centers
T/S/S = 19

12 Fire Energy 
6 Dark energy
Energy = 18

Strategy
This doesn't appear to be a deck that really has a strategy. It looks like a modified theme deck with a few collection cards. I'm not sure what sets the pokemon are from, so I'll just be making guess.  Chandelure from ND is the most powerful attacker since it does 30 to the active and 30 to two of the benched pokemon.  Weaville is a decent attacker, but only if your opponent has a tool attached.  Entei is a strong attacker, but it forces you to discard cards and only does 70 damage.  This isn't worth it.  Nuzleaf lets you move energy from your opponents active to your opponents bench.  I could go on, but the bottom line is that pokemon don't work well together.  This deck review will be very basic, to help you decide on what you want to do.

Pokemon Analysis
There's several directions that this decks could go it.  I think it would be best if you start doing some research on what cards go well together.  Fire chandelure goes well with psychic chandelure, vileplume and dodrio.  I honestly haven't heard of any good decks that use the new weaville or nuzleaf.

Energy Analysis
Stick to around 12 energy in a deck. If you're running more than one type, you may want to consider rainbow in addition to the two basics.  

T/S/S Analysis
Since you don't really know what your deck is going to be quite yet, I'll just give you a run down of basic things that you'll need.  If you run a vileplume deck (prevents both players from using trainers once it's in play), you'll want 3 candy, 3 communication and the rest supporters.  The supporters should include 1 flower shop for recovery, 4 collector to search basics, and the rest will be draw support (twins, sage, juniper, N, etc...).  The only stadium that works well with vileplume is tropical beach, which is pretty expensive.  If you don't run a vileplume deck, then you're looking at 4 collector, at least 9 draw support and the rest trainers.  1 super rod for recovery, communication to search for pokemon, catcher to bring up you opponents bench, switch to get out of the active position without having to pay a retreat cost and candy to evolve faster.

Overall
I wish I could do more of a review for you, but since your cards don't really work well together, there's much that I can work with without just giving you a completely new deck. Look at some of the other deck reviews for ideas on what you could make.


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Vanilluxe Mewtwo Tornadus and more- sindinc

1 MewTwo EX 
1 Regigigas EX 
1 Reshiram EX
1 Tornadus 
1 Cleffa 
2-1 Zoroark 
1 Kyurem 
2-2-1 Vanilluxe (ND) 
2-2 Musharna
Pokemon = 18

2 PONT 
1 PETM 
1 N 
2 Judge 
2 Cheren 
I Twins 
1 Flower shop 
1 collecter
1 Level ball 
1 Rare candy 
1 Super rod 
1 Communication 
1 Catcher 
1 Dual ball 
1 Eviolite 
2 Exp.share 
1 Heavy ball 
1 Pluspower 
1 Pokemon center 
1 Skyarrow
T/S/S = 18

4 DCE 
4 Prism 
3 Psychic 
1 Rescue 
3 Water 
3 Fire 
Energy = 18

Strategy
I'm not quite sure what the strategy of this deck is.  Musharna is for draw power, letting you draw another card after looking at the top 2.  Vanilluxe has an ability that can be a great disrupter, forcing your opponent to switch pokemon.  I would focus on this card to help get strong pokemon out of the active position on your opponents side.  It's not that great an attacker, so I wouldn't focus on that.  You have many other great pokemon, but they don't really work well together.

Pokemon Analysis
I would go for a strong vanilluxe line like 3-2-3. You still need a main attacker, so since you already have water, lets go with kyurem to spread damage.  Increase the kyurem to at least 2, possibly 3.  Mewtwo EX is needed just to be a counter for other Mewtwo EX (although it's a great attacker as well), so it's worth keeping. The other EX's should be dropped.  Kyurem EX would work well in this deck since you could still stick with water energy.  To help get set up, I'd increase your tornadus to 2-3.  I'd drop the zoroark the make more room for other cards.

Energy Analysis
Now that we have your pokemon all water (except for musharna, but it's for a draw engine, not attacker), we can just stick to water energy and DCE.  18 energy is too much energy for the deck, but 4 DCE and 9 water should work just fine.

T/S/S Analysis
2-3 more collector will ensure a full bench early in the game.  I'd drop the elm, N, flower shop and judge to make room for 3-4 twins (you'll likely be behind while kyurem spread damage), 2 more PONT and 2-3 juniper.  To help search for pokemon I'd drop the level ball and heavy ball, adding 3 more communication.  3 rare candy will ensure vanilluxe gets set up quickly.  Increase your catcher to 2 to target a specific pokemon.  4 junk arm will let you reuse any trainers.  Since your main attackers are basics (Kyurem and Kyurem EX) adding one more eviolite  will help keep them alive longer.  To make room for these suggestions, I'd drop the two stadiums, experience share and pluspower.

Overall
Once you focus on a particular strategy of the deck, then build everything else around that strategy, you'll find that you have a more consistent deck that is easier to set up and wins more games.