Ahh, a break finally

[Roarkiller]

Well, i hadn't really realized until the dentist told me, but apparently removing your wisdom tooth gives you 7 days of medical leave, and it couldn't have come at a better time after 3 weeks of pure hell.

Anyway, long post ahead, juz to warn u guys.

1st off, my new modified deck. Beedrill is strong, yes, but i think its time to change it to smthng stronger, and so far, nothing is stronger than Ludicolo (holo) and rayquaza EX for the new set. As such, i've decided to focus on these two and see which is worth my time.

Rayquaza EX
As u can tell, unless an errata is issued, this card could very well be THE most broken card to date, although i'd say gardy EX ain't so far behind. Anyway, read the card to know it, cuz i'm moving on to possible combos.

Raichu: While doing 20, it lets me look for 2 L energy cards from my deck. 2nd attack allows me to choose if i want to pump them to someone else. Perfect for powering up rayquaza.

Blastoise EX: No need to explain. Raindance for max damage. Downside tho, i'll need 3 different energy cards.

Blaziken EX: Standard procedure really.

Camerupt deoxys: Same as raichu, but from the discard pile. Also, its other attack ain't half bad, dishing out 30 to any 2 pkmn.

Basic Plan
The basic plan is to charge up ray with as much energy (all basic, of course) as i want, then dish 'em out full force. 5 energy dishes out 100 straight, and with a good combo, i can keep knocking out every pkmn that comes along, while maybe Bellossom keeps me alive from the bench.

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Ludicolo
Speed demon, tears through the deck lightning fast. The gem, tho, lies in the comboes, and it's sweet 2nd attack ensures more than 60 if u have a full bench.

Swampert holo: This one adds speed in charging up. Probably a better choice than blastoise due to its self-damaging downside.

Magneton: This one is a combo for its first attack. Like ludicolo, its power can be activated multiple times with multiple magnetons, so constant healing is all too easy.

Meteor Falls: However, i much prefer using this with the healing lombre than magneton

Basic Plan
The plan is very simple. Simply get out a full bench while powering up ludicolo and ur all set for a very strong attack. Dunsparce is crucial here.

---

So that's it for my new modified deck.

Next is my Deck of Hell. Yo ppl, don't yawn yet, i have an unlimited tourney in march. As usual, simply comments, but what i really want to know is if any of my pkmn can be switched with better ones; mainly, murkrow and chansey.

My deck has a few changes btw, here it is:

Pkmn(11)
3 sneasel
3 chansey
2 murkrow
2 cleffa
1 elekid

Trainers(34)
3 oak
1 steven's advice (from copycat, but juz testing)
4 com.search
3 itemfinder
3 gust
3 SER
3 lass
2 pkmn fan club
2 briney
2 gold berry
1 s.potion
2 focus band
1 no removal gym
2 ecogym
2 energy charge

4 dark
3 dark metal
4 DCE
3 recycle
1 full heal E.

Dark metal instead of rainbow throws away a combo of mine, but i'll risk it in exchange for more life. I'm guessing i need one more itemfinder, but that's about it. But more importantly, im wondering if i need to change the pkmn, especially murkrow and chansey.

[P0RYG0N]

but apparently removing your wisdom tooth gives you 7 days of medical leave

*Getting wisdom teeth pulled soon, wonders if anything like this applies to me. *

Rayquaza EX
As u can tell, unless an errata is issued, this card could very well be THE most broken card to date

Yeah... When I first saw it I thought it looked extremely broken. But I'm still a bit of a newb, so I just figured that I just didn't know any better.

[Water Pokemon Master]

It's not that broken. It only has 100 HP. Some Pokemon can KO it easily, most can do it in two hits. If it gets KO'd, not only is it two prizes, but all the energy attached to it. Also, once you use its power, you can't get the energy off it. Also, with Crystal Shard running around now, it will definately die to most Pokemon. It's not worth using it IMO.

[Roarkiller]

Even EX pkmn r dying in 2 hits nowadays, so what's new? The previous rayquaza EX loses energy much faster than this thing, and that deck was a success. Mind u, EX aren't played as often as before, so most other big pkmn all have around the same HP. But 40 with only 2 energy is pretty heavy, and another one kills almost all basics in one shot, another 2 kills stage1, and another 3 almost all stage2. With a little combo, this one is pretty lethal.

And i don't really see crystal shard being played around here, and as useful as it is, its not much of a tech card with only dragons being the only ones weak to colorless. That, and considering that many decks nowadays already have colorless pkmn in them, namely delcatty and pidgeot.

EDIT: And oh, if u think 100HP is too low, u forgot about sneasel in unlimited. How many times have i encoutered ppl who keep telling me that its HP is too low, only for it to survive turn after turn of onslaught, sweeping prizes as i go?

[Water Pokemon Master]

*smacks Roarkiller*

Where have you been mister? People are putting in 2-3 Crystal Shards in their decks now! Look at what the top decks of the format are right now. Dark Dragonite, decks with Rayquaza in them, etc. Crystal Shard keeps those decks at bay. If you are against a fully powered Dark Dragonite with 3-4 Darkness on it, just slap on a Crystal Shard and you are most likely able to knock it out, having the Darkness energy go with it and the deck being basically screwed from doing any major damage. Most Rayquaza and other dragon types, like Salamence and Flygon, also die to Crystal Shard easily.

This Rayquaza will not see much play. If it is killed, it can take almost 1/4 of the total energy in your deck with it, not to mention other Pokemon that have been knocked out or other methods in which energy have been discarded. I have not seen a single deck anywhere on the PokeGym where someone has used this Rayquaza. I would rather use the Rayquaza* over this.

[P0RYG0N]

You're talking as if people will randomly throw Ray into decks without putting some sort of plan behind it.

I personally think Rayquaza would work well with anything that could pull energy out of the discard pile. And the card dosen't FORCE you to attack all your energy to it anyway, so you'd just need to give it enough to pull off whatever you feel you're going to have to kill in order to survive. IMO, I think Rayquaza is fast enough to not have crystal shard as the largest concern. And two resistances are cool.

[Water Pokemon Master]

I dare you to play it at States, Porygon.

[P0RYG0N]

I think the card definatley looks good enough to play. If I had three of those things or so I would be too tempted to play it not to.

But okay, you brought up some decent points, maybe it's not BROKEN. But you've got to admit, it is a pretty good card in the end...

[Roarkiller]

Sorry, i didnt realize that ppl have been playing with crystal shards now.

Or should i say, i haven't realized anyone in my country using them. Clearer?

C'mon boy, thats what they keep telling me about sneasel. Don't use it, its weak to clefable, weak to removal, too low a HP, limit to energy used, bla bla. U'd think all the warnings shouldve stopped me. Look where sneasel brought me to now.

I can make sneasel win against clefable and removals, even make seaking embarrass a haymaker. Rayquaza is no different.

Mind u, the purpose of crystal shard is to kill pkmn with colorless weakness i.e. dragons. U think rayquaza users won't know this? Of course they would include some cards to counter this weakness. Its the most basic of gameplay, to overcome your weakness. If everyone were to ignore every card that has a weakness, there wouldn't be many choices left. And since we're talking about crystal shard here, why not talk about ATM rock as well? Pretty common too, isn't it? So how come ppl r still using big evolutions with small pre-evolutions? Or Rare candy for that matter, since its ATMR's best target?

I never said i was going to focus on rayquaza alone. I know well enough how even EX pkmn can be KOed in 2 hits, much less a 100HP pkmn.

My point is, every card has its advantages and disadvantages. Every deck has its strengths and weaknesses. But its not about what card you use or what deck you fight with. Its how YOU use the card and deck that determines the winner.

Don't get me wrong, i ain't trying to start a fight, nor am i denying the fact that rayquaza has several critical weaknesses. But the fact remains that it is still a great card to use, and i intend to use it if i see it worthy enough.

As a last note, you should never play to defeat your metagame. Metagames differ from place to place; what makes you a victor in one place could put you to shame in another.

[homeofmew]

Roarkiller think you should add this to the deck of hell
Igglybuff+ Focus Band.
Baby Power +sleep+band.