Monday, February 2, 2015

Sabledonk

This article will aim to provide a deck list for a Sabledonk deck as well as the overall strategy and individual card explanations. In reality, the goal of Sabledonk is to continue using cards like Crobat G, Jolteon ex, and Jolteon Star to place a large amount of damage counters on the opponent's Pokemon. One deck list that I find useful is as follows:

2-2 Jolteon ex DS
1 Jolteon Star PK
4 Crobat G PT
1 Spiritomb LA
3 Spiritomb AR
4 Sableye SF
1 Unown Q MD
Total Pokemon: 18

1 Computer Search
2 Pokemon Collector
4 Erika
4 Item Finder
4 Scoop Up
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Poketurn
4 Pokeblower+
4 Pokedrawer+
4 Professor Oak
1 Luxury Ball
2 Broken Time Space
4 Mr. Fuji
Total Trainers: 42

Total Energy: 0

I will now try to explain the individual components of this deck.

Jolteon ex: Part of strategy.
Jolteon Star: Part of strategy.
Crobat G: Part of strategy.
Spiritomb LA: Part of strategy.
Spiritomb AR: Tech against any other deck.
Sableye: Allows the player to go first.
Unown Q: Helps retreat Spiritomb/Sableye

Computer Search: Draw.
Pokemon Collector: Helps get Spiritomb out of the active spot.
Erika: Draw.
Item Finder: Helps reuse other trainer cards.
Scoop Up: Part of strategy.
Super Scoop Up: Part of strategy.
Poketurn: Part of strategy.
Pokeblower+: Part of strategy.
Pokedrawer+: Draw.
Professor Oak: Draw.
Luxury Ball: Draw.
Broken Time Space: Part of strategy.
Mr. Fuji: Part of strategy.

Porydonk

This article will attempt to provide a few various deck lists, possible techs, and overall strategies for a common deck archetype called Porydonk. As I said in the Donk Decks Overview article, the strategy of Porydonk is to combine Porygon2's ability with Seeker to force your opponent to pick up all of the Pokemon from their bench. After this, the deck uses Drifblim, Pidgeot, Shiftry, etc. to remove the opponent's active Pokemon - giving you the win. It aims to do all of this in the first turn. It may be noted I found some of these lists elsewhere on the Internet.

This first deck list is pre-Rules Change so it uses Drifblim. This is what I personally use.

2-2 Porygon2 GE
1-1 Drifblim UD
4 Uxie LA
1 Regice LA
4 Sableye SF
1 Azelf LA
1 Rotom UD
Total Pokemon: 17

4 PokedexHandy910is
4 Pokedrawer+
4 Erika
4 Item Finder
4 Seeker
4 First Ticket
4 Scoop Up
1 Luxury Ball
1 Swoop! Teleporter
2 Broken Time Space
1 Computer Search
1 Oracle
1 Pokemon Collector
1 Windstorm
3 Professor Oak
2 Junk Arm
1 VS Seeker
Total Trainers: 42

1 Boost Energy
Total Energy: 1

This second deck list is post - Rules Change so it uses Shiftry.

2-2-2 Shiftry ND
2-2 Porygon2 GE
2 Uxie LA
4 Sableye SF
Total Pokemon: 16

4 Seeker
2 Oracle
4 Erika
4 Scoop Up
4 Pokedrawer+
2 Professor Oak
1 Luxury Ball
4 Level Ball
4 Item Finder
2 Junk Arm
4 Devolution Spray
2 VS Seeker
2 Broken Time Space
1 Pokemon Retriever
3 PokedexHandy910is
1 Computer Search
Total Trainers: 44

Total Energy: 0

This third list is, once again, pre-Rules Change.

1-1 Drifblim UD
2-2 Porygon2 GE
3 Uxie LA
2 Azelf LA
4 Sableye SF
4 Unown R LA
1 Rotom UD
1 Celebi ex P2
Total Pokemon: 21

3 Professor Oak
4 Erika
1 Computer Search
4 Pokedrawer+
3 Pokemon Communication
3 Level Ball
2 Junk Arm
1 Luxury Ball
4 Item Finder
4 Scoop Up
1 Pokemon Retriever
1 VS Seeker
1 Warp Point/Escape Rope
3 Seeker
2 Broken Time Space
Total Trainers: 37

2 Boost Energy
Total Energy: 2

The fourth list is pre - Rules Change.

4 Sableye SF
3 Uxie LA
2-2 Porygon2
1-1 Drifblim
4 Unown R LA
1 Regice LA
1 Rotom UD
Total Pokemon: 19

2 Broken Time Space
4 Seeker
1 Oracle
1 Pokemon Collector
4 Pokedrawer+
2 Scoop Up
4 Item Finder
2 Junk Arm
1 VS Seeker
1 Computer Search
1 Windstorm
1 Pokemon Retriever
4 Erika
4 Level Ball
2 PokedexHandy910is
4 First Ticket
1 Alph Lithograph (FOUR)
Total Trainers: 37

2 Boost Energy
Total Energy: 2

This fifth and final deck list has a lot of variety in it and is pretty interesting. It is pre - Rules Change.

2-2 Porygon2 GE
1-1 Drifblim UD
4 Sableye SF
4 Unown R LA
3 Uxie LA
1 Azelf LA
1 Rotom UD
1 Ditto FL
1 Crobat G PT
1 Regice LA
1 Celebi ex P2
Total Pokemon: 23

4 Erika
4 Pokedrawer+
4 Scoop Up
4 Item Finder
4 Seeker
3 Professor Oak
2 Oracle
2 Broken Time Space
2 Swoop! Teleporter
1 Luxury Ball
1 Computer Search
1 Pokemon Retriever
1 VS Seeker
1 Mr. Fuji
1 Windstorm
Total Trainers: 35

1 Special Darkness Energy
1 Boost Energy
Total Energy: 2

Now I will give a brief overview of the various cards listed above and their roles in this deck.

Porygon2: This is necessary for the deck's strategy.
Drifblim: This is necessary for the deck's strategy. (Pre-Rules Change)
Shiftry: This is necessary for the deck's strategy. (Post-Rules Change)
Sableye: Used for going first.
Uxie: Draw.
Regice: Used as a tech against Spiritomb AR.
Azelf: Used to retrieve Pokemon from your prize cards.
Rotom: Used to retrieve other cards from your prize cards.
Unown R: Draw.
Celebi ex: Set up for draw / Discard pile retrieval.
Ditto: Pokemon in discard pile retrieval.
Crobat G: Used for light damage if that is all that is necessary.

Erika: Draw.
Pokedrawer+: Draw.
PokeHandy910is: Draw.
Professor Oak: Draw.
Computer Search: Draw.
Broken Time Space: This is necessary for the deck's strategy.
Scoop Up: Used to reuse Uxie/Azelf/Rotom/Crobat G...
Mr. Fuji: Used to reuse Uxie/Azelf/Rotom/Crobat G...
Item Finder: Used to reuse various trainers.
Junk Arm: Used to reuse items.
Oracle: Used to combo with draw cards.
Pokemon Retriever: Pokemon in discard pile retrieval.
VS Seeker: Used to reuse Seeker/Retrieve supporters.
Windstorm: Used as a tech against Cessation Crystal, etc.
Swoop! Teleporter: Used to get Drifblim/Shiftry active.
Luxury Ball: Draw.
Level Ball: Draw.
First Ticket: Used for going first.
Alph Lithograph: Used to help with Rotom.
Pokemon Collector: Helpful for getting Pokemon like Uxie/Porygon. Also combined with Regice for tech against Spiritomb AR.
Pokemon Communication: Used to get more useful Pokemon.
Warp Point/Escape Rope: Used to help get Drifblim/Shiftry active.
Devolution Spray: Used to improve consistency with Shifty.
Seeker: This is necessary for the deck's strategy.

Boost Energy: Used with Drifblim for win. (pre-Rules Change)
Special Darkness Energy: Used with Sableye for light damage if necessary. (pre-Rules Change)

Hopefully this article helped anyone who read it out if they're building a Porydonk deck. As you can see, there are many creative and effective approaches that you can take. In order to find the best deck for you, I would recommend testing it multiple times. As always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

Lock/Stall Decks Overview

This article will be just like the last one except for lock and stall decks instead of donk decks. Here goes...

Vilelock - One of the largest factors of having a successful deck is your search/draw power. Vilelock completely eliminates this as well as any other trainer cards your opponent wants to play. By using Dark Vileplume or Vileplume you can take control and continue attacking quickly with any Pokemon that has cheap attacks.


Muk ex - This deck is similar to Vileplume except it blocks PokePowers and PokeBodies. Since nearly every competitive deck in the unlimited format relies on these, this deck is extremely good. With cards like Expert Belt and some simple Grass Energy, this deck slowly destroys the opponent's Pokemon.


Spiritomb - This deck simply attempts to use Spirtomb, like most other lock decks, to lock the opponent's trainers while doing damage in various ways.

Muk - This deck is mostly inferior to Muk ex besides the fact that Muk also works on the bench so you can send a more efficient attacker out.

Total Lockdown - This deck, once fully set up, is nearly unstoppable. It prevents your opponent from playing any trainers and prevents your opponent from attacking, evolving, or using any PokePowers/PokeBodies. It does this through Aerodactyl + Aggron ex and Dark Vileplume.

Holon Lock - This deck is definitely a creative one. While not quite as competitive as the others, it is extremely fun to play and isn't too broken. The deck uses Golduck to prevent your opponent from playing stadiums and has Holon Circle in play. If they try to attack, use cards like Dark Porygon2 (or 4 of them) to get Holon Circle back into play. Using Unown Z, your opponent will probably run out of cards but you won't. Like I said earlier, this is a pretty fun deck to play even though it isn't quite as effective as some of the others. 


Hopefully this gave you a good idea of how various lock/stall decks work. As always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

Card images come from previously sited sites as well as: PokeNoah
                                                                                     PrimeTimePokemon


Donk Decks Overview

This page will attempt to give a brief overview of various donk decks and how they function. Here it goes...

Porydonk - The goal of Porydonk is to eliminate all of your opponent's Pokemon on turn 1. It wipes out your opponent's bench by combining Seeker with Porygon2's PokePower. Each time you place Porygon2 down, it renews its ability. By continually placing Porygon2 down with Broken Time Space (BTS), you remove all of the opponent's bench. According to post black and white rules, you can't attack turn 1. Before the rules change, however, Drifblim with Boost Energy was commonly used to get rid of the opponent's active Pokemon. After the rules change, if you still want to win turn 1, you will have to replace Drifblim with a Pokemon like Shiftry, even though it is harder to set up.


Sabledonk - Sabledonk also eliminates all of your opponent's Pokemon (or wins by taking six prize cards). Like in most donk decks, Sableye is your ideal starter since it lets you go first. The goal of Sabledonk is to use cards like Crobat G, Jolteon ex, Jolteon Star, Zapdos, and Unown ! combined with Scoop Up, Mr. Fuji, Super Scoop Up, Devolution Spray, and PokeTurn to drop a large amount of damage counters on your opponent's Pokemon. Crobat G is probably the most useful of these cards.
Spread - This is, personally, one of my favorite donk decks to play. It uses Emboar or Blastoise combined with Espeon to repetitively access various effects. In order to do damage, it uses Forretress. In order to draw, it uses Shuckle. In order to heal, it uses Leafeon. This is a fun deck to play as well as an effective one.

These are the main donk decks that I have had experience with although I am sure their are many others. Hopefully you are interested in some of these decks. I will write individual articles on each of them. As always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

Card images come from previously sited sites as well as: Hey Trainer
                                                                                     Play Here
                                                                                     Collector's Cache










Terminology

I was reading my previous posts and I realized that some of the terminology I used may have been unfamiliar to readers who didn't already know about the Pokemon unlimited format. This page is for those readers. As I continue blogging I will add to this list to help readers out. The list is as follows:

Donk - Winning on turn 1

I know the list is only 1 entry long but as I continue I will add to it to help out readers. As always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Draw/Search Engine

In this post I will be attempting to list some of the more popular search cards used in the unlimited format. The list is as follows:

Erika - This is an amazing card for donk decks and lock decks alike (Assuming you can win/lock your opponent on turn 1). The ability to draw three cards is absolutely amazing. Some of my favorite cards to combo with Erika are Impostor Professor Oak and Copycat. It may also be noted that in stall decks it can help the opponent run out of cards faster (which is always good).

Professor Oak - This card is a good card to draw a large amount of cards if you have a bad hand. It completely outclasses Professor Juniper/Sycamore since they are supporters. It's terrible to have more than 1 of these in your hand since you'll have to discard at least 1 of them. It also isn't good to have this and some other good cards in your hand that you can't play (especially if you run thin lines of the card). Overall, however, this card is quite good.

Pokedrawer+ - This card is disappointing if you only have one but with two it becomes an absolutely amazing search card. There isn't much else to say about this card besides that it is absolutely great and you should probably run 4 in any deck.

Computer Search - This card is a good addition to any search engine. I do not believe there are any official rulings at this time but I think that you should only be able to run 1 as of the Ace Spec reprint. I don't think this counts as 'extreme text change' because the Bill supporter doesn't and that is a larger difference of the two. Regardless, it is a good card to include in your deck.



Item Finder/Junk Arm - I would consider this another staple for any deck. Item Finder is better since it can also retrieve Supporters/Stadiums. Junk Arm is acceptable, however, if you feel you need it.

PokedexHandy910is - Contrary to this cards long name, it has a fairly straightforward, and useful, effect. This card is secondary to some of the above but I personally enjoy using it. 

Uxie LA + Scoop Up/Mr. Fuji/ Super Scoop Up (SSU)/etc. - This is an incredibly useful search engine. You can still use Uxie even with a trainer lock in place. There are many cards with effects similar to Scoop Up but Scoop Up is probably the best their is. This can be cumbersome if you have limited bench space but you could probably still make it work.

Luxury/Other Ball(s) - This is a good card to have in any deck. Unfortunately do to the card text, you can only efficiently run 1 in your entire deck. It is practically a must have in a competitive or non-competitive deck. I love this card. If this is all you have in your hand, search for a Uxie LA and you can keep playing.


Although this article has covered the main cards used in a draw/search engine, their are a wide variety of others that are sometimes used. These include Blaine's Quiz Numbers 1, 2, and 3, Oracle, and many others. I hope you enjoyed reading this article, and, as always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

I got the card images from: Bulbapedia
                                         Pokebeach
                                         Six Prizes
                                         Ebay
                                         Troll and Toad
                                         Serebii








Preliminary List of Decks

Donk Decks
-Porydonk (Porygon2/Drifblim)
-Sabledonk (Sableye/Spread Cards (like Crobat G))
-Spread (Sabledonk+Emboar/Espeon/Forretress)

Lock/Stall Decks
-Vilelock (Spiritomb/Dark Vileplume/Some Attacker)
-Muk ex (Muk ex/Possibly Sableye or Spiritomb)
-Spiritomb (Self Explanatory)
-Muk (Self Explanatory)
-Total Lockdown (Aggron ex/Aerodactyl/Dark Vileplume)
-Holon Lock (Golduck/Holon Circle/Unown Z)

These are just some popular decks that I personally have heard of and played. This is not necessarily all of the decks that I will be reviewing but I will definitely try to provide some various deck lists and possible variants. I think these are probably the most competitive decks that I can think of off the top of my head but I will be trying to research more as well as trying to think of some ideas myself. As said earlier, I will try to provide various deck lists for these decks as well as some possible techs/variants. In addition to this I will try to go more in depth into the specific cards themselves. One idea I had was to do a review on an entire set of Pokemon cards in order to determine their usability in competitive (or non-competitive) unlimited format. As always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

What This Blog is Aiming to Do

This blog will review various unlimited Pokemon decks and cards. For example, I will try to provide deck lists for some popular decks such as Porydonk, Sabledonk, Spread, Vilelock, Muk ex, Total Lockdown, Holon Lock, Quad Spiritomb, etc. I will also give out card reviews and try to publish some creative deck ideas of my own. I may even suggest alternate formats / ban lists. As always, thanks for reading!

-TRANG

Introduction

Hello, this is Trang. This will be a blog devoted to the Pokemon unlimited format. I should start blogging soon. Thanks!

-TRANG