Team Y2K

PokeChamp · Site Admin Joined: 03 Mar 2010 Posts: 946 Location: Gengar

This is Team Y2K's first-ever article. Today I'll be discussing a more "rogue" deck on the horizon. The deck has no official name other than "Blastoise/Feraligatr", yet it has inspired quite the controversy.

The deck itself has a simple strategy to fulfill: control your opponent's field by sniping their important techs, and do it each and ever turn. It's all about Blastoise's amazing attack, "Hydro Launcher". At the cost of four Energy, only two of which are required to be Water Energy, Blastoise does 100 damage... to any of your opponent's Pokemon. Obviously that would be, by itself, broken, so Blastoise has an added cost: after using "Hydro Launcher", you have to put two Water Energy cards attached to Blastoise to your hand. That is a relatively minor cost for 100 damage, much less to any of your opponent's Pokemon. With an Expert Belt attached, you can do 120 damage to your opponent's active Pokemon, enough to knock out some stage 2 Pokemon and definitely enough to kill SPs.

The cost makes Blastoise hard to play, though, as it has no other attacks; that's where Feraligatr Prime comes in. Since its release, Feraligatr Prime has been pretty much put on the back-burner by most TCG enthusiasts. In a format where speed rules practically the entire format and where SPs roam rampant, Feraligatr was a good card simply released at the wrong time. Rather, had it been released in a format where SPs were finally rotated out, I think it would have done much better.

Up until now, no one has really given any thought about Feraligatr Prime. But with the release of Blastoise in "HS -- Unleashed", Feraligatr Prime has been given one extra chance to shine. It still has to overcome the threat of SPs, but otherwise it's become much better. Want proof? Take a look at this deck-list:

Pokemon: 23
3 Squirtle SW
2 Wartortle UN
3 Blastoise UN
2 Totodile HS
1 Croconaw MT
2 Feraligatr Prime HS
2 Baltoy GE
2 Claydol GE
2 Crobat G PL
2 Spiritomb AR
1 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 25
4 Bebe's Search
4 Roseanne's Research
4 Rare Candy
4 Team Galactic's Invention Poke Turn
3 Pokemon Communication
2 Broken Time Space
2 Warp Point
1 Palmer's Contribution
1 Fisherman

Energy: 12
8 Basic Water Energy
4 Call Energy

Amazed? I certainly am. I doubt I need to explain the deck-list to you, as a simple examination would reveal their ultimate function. But as a writer, it's my duty to inform, and inform I shall.

Remember when I told you the Energy go in your hand? Well next turn, all you have to do is set up a Feraligatr Prime and attach the returned Energy back to Blastoise. Due to the lack of a "during your next turn, Blastoise can't attack" clause, you can use "Hydro Launcher" again... and again... and again.

Obviously setting up a four-Energy attacker is far from a cakewalk. That's why we play Spiritomb. It will slow down Trainer-reliant decks, which is only, oh, I don't know, every deck in format, and give us time to set up. Cursegar, a much more celebrated deck in the format, takes three-to-four turns to set up completely with Spiritomb, and it is quite successful. This deck only demands
four-to-five turns to set up, and it has a destructive potential that puts Cursegar to shame. Can Cursegar take out Claydol on the fourth or fifth turn? Obviously not, unless you decide to go aggro-Gengar SF, which isn't really standard protocol for a Cursegar player unless necessary for victory. Furthermore, 100 damage every single turn allows you to knock out any Claydol played after you knock out the first one.

As most competitive players know, it's very hard to win without Claydol. Unless your opponent is an uber luck-sack and thus able to draw everything they need without the help of Claydol, you've pretty much won the game. Against stage 2 decks the battle seems to be won. Against SP decks, on the other hand, the story is quite different.

SP decks don't actually have to rely on Claydol. They use Cyrus's Conspiracy to set up, occasionally Uxie from time to time as well. Most if not all SP decks take advantage of Luxray GL Lv.X, which hits your Blastoise for weakness. They can easily knock out your Blastoise and unless you attach E-Belt, which will yield two prizes for your opponent instead of one, putting you at a serious disadvantage, they can potentially knock it out each and every turn. Losing your Blastoise basically destroys the deck, so you'll pretty much lose after they take the first prize. "Bright Look" along with Power Spray also ensure your defeat.

You'll also have to be careful of Plox, which will single-handedly shut off each and every one of your Poke-Powers, meaning you can't play your Energy after you return them to your hand.

Aside from those two decks, you don't have too many seriously horrible matchups. If you decide to play this deck, Donphan Prime will have to be considered, as SPs dominate the metagame at the moment. You could also try Machamp, but due to the fact you already play two stage 2 lines, both of which are vital to your deck's function, I'd advise against it.

Overall I think this deck is pretty solid, although it might have to wait until SPs go away to fully do what it can. Unless you're playing SPs, I wouldn't underestimate this deck. In just a few turns, it can get fully set up and totally obliterate your field.

If you want an answer against this deck, you could always try Manetric PL to give you another turn of Claydol. You could always opt for Bench Shield AR as well.
_________________
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I sacrificed my Queen because I wanted to play like Fischer.

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Tristan · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 2:28 pm Post subject:

I have tryed to make this deck but it did not work but maybe this one will so IDK it also gets killed by luxray. Rosrade GL kills it. Power lock kills it.
Floatzal from the new one might be better to use IDK though if it gets set up it is a beast.

T
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T

I have a cruel humor

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PokeChamp · Site Admin Joined: 03 Mar 2010 Posts: 946 Location: Gengar

Tristan · Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 6:58 pm Post subject: