It's Been A While

It's been a while since I've posted, but thought I'd write an update since the blog still gets views regularly. I'll give a brief overview of what I consider to be the best deck since the last few expansions have come out and will go more in depth into it and some others if there is interest in the comments. I'll begin with the deck:

Trick Shovel Lock

Sample Decklist:

1 Sableye SF

4 Trick Shovel

4 The Rocket's Trap

4 Item Finder

4 Junk Arm

4 Professor Oak

4 PokeDrawer+

4 PokeHandy910is

4 Trainers' Mail

4 Bill's Teleporter

4 Blaine's Last Resort

4 Skyla

2 Acro Bike

2 Lysandre's Trump Card

2 Space Center

1 Hypnotoxic Laser

1 Rocket's Sneak Attack

1 Red Card

1 VS Seeker

1 Dowsing Machine

1 Silent Lab

1 Holon Circle

1 Cessation Crystal

1 Special Darkness Energy

Description: 

The point of this deck is to control what cards your opponent has in play. Because Sableye is the only Pokemon in the deck, you are guaranteed to go first if your opponent doesn't have a Sableye and guaranteed to have a 50/50 chance of going first if they do. On the first turn, you must use The Rocket's Trap, Rocket's Sneak Attack, and Red Card to reduce your opponent's hand to zero cards or ensure that everything in their hand is useless. Afterward, on the first and every subsequent turn, you must use Trick Shovel to discard cards off the top of their deck until they are left with nothing good. Meanwhile, the Hypnotoxic Laser and Special Darkness Energy are used in conjunction with Sableye to kill their Pokemon. The Lysandre's Trump Card keeps you from running out of cards. The Item Finder, Junk Arm, and Dowsing Machine let you reuse Trick Shovel (or other cards if need be). Skyla and Space Center are there as techs against an opposing Spiritomb. VS Seeker can be used to get Lysandre's Trump Card Back. Silent Lab prevents troublesome abilities such as Oranguru or Unown, Holon Circle prevents troublesome attacks such as Gastly, and Cessation Crystal prevents troublesome Pokemon Powers. Everything else is used for draw power.

Some other possibilities include Rotom Dex so you can run less Lysandre's Trump Card and improve consistency getting Silent Lab, etc., Expert Belt to do more damage, Scott as a replacement for Skyla, Ghetsis or Delinquent to aid in narrowing down the opponents hand, and other draw cards (e.g. Misty's Wrath). I have also seen Lysandre used as a way to swap the opponent's Spiritomb and Brigette along with more Sableye if the opponent somehow gets a way to damage your Sableye, but in my experience, few decks will leave you the opportunity to use Lysandre and Holon Circle will generally prevent the need to pull out more Sableye.

Some Further Notes

While the above deck seems to be practically unbeatable right now, there are some other comparable decks in the unlimited format. These include Kabutops MD which tries to get Kabutops active, locking items for both players, Walrein ex which tries to repetitively evolve and devolve Walrein ex from a Sealeo gotten out from an Archie's Ace in the Hole which locks all trainers for the opponent. I don't see it as especially viable anymore, but some decks including Porygon2 using either Seeker and a Pokemon like Shiftry or Lysandre's Trump Card with PokeBlower+ or Missing Clover, etc. still exist. Some of the above decks also use the new Cradily card which can actually get out Stage 2 Pokemon without needing their basics (allowing you to stay consistent). Note that every good deck will contain no or almost no basic Pokemon other than Sableye, Spiritomb, and Ditto. Spiritomb can, however, easily be countered by Scott/Skyla + Space Center, and Ditto never provides more consistency than your opponents. Very rarely decks centered around Trevenant are also seen. Older decks like Rhyperior Mill, Blastoise/Emboar/Magnezone + Forretress Donk, Crobat G, Dark Vileplume, Muk ex, Muk Fossil, Holon Lock, Aggron ex/Archeops, etc. are still occasionally seen but have become much, much less consistent since decks like the one listed above exist and will start with Sableye every game and Abilities have emerged as a mechanic. If there's any interest in me detailing some of the previously mentioned decks or providing decklists, let me know in the comments. I'll see what I can post within the next month or two if I have time. As always, thanks for reading!