Some Decks for HL-on

[Whicker]

After Worlds, some of my friends and I played an HL-on tourney with Unseen Forces legal. We all risked some EXs that went into the prize pool. But that is unimportant, the important part is the decks that were played and the ones that did well. Here are some of the decks that did well overall:

Scizor ex/Metagross:
An extremely good deck overall. As well all know, Scizor is a card that pretty much snaps the format in half. Its body is great and Steel Wing is very useful overall. And Cross-Cut is sick with Boost Energy. Obviously, the combo with Metagross makes the deck work well. It allows for great swarms and also allows you to claim more wins against Medicham and the like.

Turn 2 Scizor:
Another recognized deck. Of course, although this deck doesn't have the versatility of the Metagross version, its speed allows it to almost beat anything. A constant flow of Boosts allow this deck to end the game early on a very consistant basis.

Dark Slowking/Slowking:
Another fast and powerful deck. Although a bit less consistant than T2 Scizor, its late game is much better and will probably prove to be a better choice when City Championships roll around. It also doesn't rely on one card as much and can pretty much feed itself throughout the entire game. If it can find a way to beat grass, it can probably beat ANYTHING.

Speed Typhlosion:
If it pulls a 2nd turn Typhlosion, it is pretty much GG. Its power allows for 2nd turn attacking AND swarming. Also, not only does its attack blow through everything small, it disrupts big things enough to almost shut them down. Only if High Pressure was still in the format...

Speed Gatr:
Feraligatr turned out better than I originally thought. Unfortunately, I cannot say it is THAT good. Yes, it shuts down powers AND bodies, but the way this format is turning out, most of the powers and bodies are going to be more support and shutting them down will not shut the deck down, or are on EXs. It has a hard time with Scizor and even a Typhlosion that can consistantly Kindle and swarm will take it down.

Politoed:
Not too good from what I saw. Too slow I think.

Politoed/Shedinja:
This Politoed version actually worked quite well, and I liked the mechanic a lot. The idea behind it was to get out a few Shedinjas with Curse Powders, and Punch and Run for them, all while powering a couple Politoeds. The extra damage done through the Curse Powders allowed Swallow Up to knock out EXs. Pow! Hand Extension and Pokemon Reversal really hurt this mechanic though.

Ludicargo:
still here.....

Rocklock:
look above....

Medicham:
look above....

Poliwrath:
This deck surprised me quite a bit. It utilized both Poliwraths. Not real sure on how it works exactly but it performed well overall.

Typhlosion/Houndoom/Rayquaza:
I worked with a good friend of mine to make this deck. It really only auto-loses to Feraligatr. I'm kinda tired so I'm not going to bother explaining it here, ask questions if needed.


There ya go, some of the deck choices for HL-on... enjoy.

[Shlllink]

I like that Politoed/Shedinja idea. I also had my eye on Scizor ex and it seems to be promising.

Ohh....no Umbreon or Meganium on the list...

Actually, Umbreon ex doesn't have too many uses just yet...unless I havent been thinking. Meganium ex on the other hand, I will play whether its good or bad.

[Bullados]

It's interesting that you mention that Feraligatr won't do much because the format won't have as many powers, then go out and list about half of the top decks as being reliant on powers and bodies on non-ex Pokemon.

Scizor/Metagross has very little recourse when facing Feraligatr, it can only hope for an energy shortage or a bad hand, really, unless I misread a card somewhere. Also, Speed G8r will be running Frontiers, shutting down Scizor's body.

Slowking: they can't mess with my deck, and can't easily find their Tools.

Politoed: can't do that Shedinja dance, can ya?

LudiCargo/RocLoc: pretty much autoloss once G8r hits the field.

Typhlosion: speed vs. weakness. This matchup brings back memories for me...

Typh/Doom/Rayquaza: like you mentioned, pretty much auto-loss to G8r.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Frontier isn't as much of a problem to scizor as it seems. Since it'll only bother you on your own turn, if at all, you should be able to counter it soundly (counters should be run anyway for desert ruins...). Although I've only tried it a little bit, my scizor deck never ran into any problems against frontiers, but I run 3 counters and 2 scotts...

Edit: By the way, anything on espeon ex? Personally I think it's too opponent-dependant to be consistantly powerful, but it should still pack a fair amount of punch and have some interesting effects on its side as well.

[Whicker]

You bring up interesting points Bullados, definitely things to be considered.

The decks that you guys mentioned that I didn't mention were not present at the tournament, so I cannot give any initial information on those decks.

[supertyranitar]

After Worlds, some of my friends and I played an HL-on tourney with Unseen Forces legal. We all risked some EXs that went into the prize pool. But that is unimportant, the important part is the decks that were played and the ones that did well. Here are some of the decks that did well overall:

Scizor ex/Metagross:
An extremely good deck overall. As well all know, Scizor is a card that pretty much snaps the format in half. Its body is great and Steel Wing is very useful overall. And Cross-Cut is sick with Boost Energy. Obviously, the combo with Metagross makes the deck work well. It allows for great swarms and also allows you to claim more wins against Medicham and the like.

Turn 2 Scizor:
Another recognized deck. Of course, although this deck doesn't have the versatility of the Metagross version, its speed allows it to almost beat anything. A constant flow of Boosts allow this deck to end the game early on a very consistant basis.

Dark Slowking/Slowking:
Another fast and powerful deck. Although a bit less consistant than T2 Scizor, its late game is much better and will probably prove to be a better choice when City Championships roll around. It also doesn't rely on one card as much and can pretty much feed itself throughout the entire game. If it can find a way to beat grass, it can probably beat ANYTHING.

Speed Typhlosion:
If it pulls a 2nd turn Typhlosion, it is pretty much GG. Its power allows for 2nd turn attacking AND swarming. Also, not only does its attack blow through everything small, it disrupts big things enough to almost shut them down. Only if High Pressure was still in the format...

Speed Gatr:
Feraligatr turned out better than I originally thought. Unfortunately, I cannot say it is THAT good. Yes, it shuts down powers AND bodies, but the way this format is turning out, most of the powers and bodies are going to be more support and shutting them down will not shut the deck down, or are on EXs. It has a hard time with Scizor and even a Typhlosion that can consistantly Kindle and swarm will take it down.

Politoed:
Not too good from what I saw. Too slow I think.

Politoed/Shedinja:
This Politoed version actually worked quite well, and I liked the mechanic a lot. The idea behind it was to get out a few Shedinjas with Curse Powders, and Punch and Run for them, all while powering a couple Politoeds. The extra damage done through the Curse Powders allowed Swallow Up to knock out EXs. Pow! Hand Extension and Pokemon Reversal really hurt this mechanic though.

Ludicargo:
still here.....

Rocklock:
look above....

Medicham:
look above....

Poliwrath:
This deck surprised me quite a bit. It utilized both Poliwraths. Not real sure on how it works exactly but it performed well overall.

Typhlosion/Houndoom/Rayquaza:
I worked with a good friend of mine to make this deck. It really only auto-loses to Feraligatr. I'm kinda tired so I'm not going to bother explaining it here, ask questions if needed.


There ya go, some of the deck choices for HL-on... enjoy.

Scizor ex/Metagross: This could be a very powerful deck, with some Deoxys in for Fire. Tank up a Scizor and you should be able to beat almost anything except Typhlo.

Turn 2 Scizor: Very good deck, 2nd turn 40 and prevent 20-30 damage. But 2nd attack is very nice, and This could be a powerful deck.

Slowking Combo: I've heard many good things about this. Protective orb is the best thing you have vs grass. And with the amount of damage it can do, its a very good deck IMO.

Speed Typhlo: This deck is one of the most disruptive with the attack+ER2. The Only prob is the low bench, so thats something to watch out for.

Speed Gatr: Its a good deck, but any lighting that can do 80 like Lanturn will put problems into the big picture.

Politoed: wouldn't expect it to be that great on its own.

Politoed/Shedinja: I see this being good with the Cursed Powder. Sounds intreging to say the least.

Poliwrath: The combo is great, and it could be good with Umbreon, gust up something and get the boost, plus you counter Psychic.

THR: Haven't heard much, but from the sound this also will work wonders.

[Whicker]

I remember now why Gatr has some problems in this format (or at least, from what I've seen, do not hold me to anything posted on this thread). Although it has almost no auto-losses, it has almost no auto-wins either.

Scizor/Metagross- Gatr cannot dream oh OHKO'ing either of these guys. Of course, Scizor cannot exactly KO the Gatr very fast either. However, this matchup works similar to the following:
Gatr goes first, attaches energy and passes.
Scizor does same.
Gatr attaches and Tsunamis for 20 or 30 because of metals.
Scizor attaches and uses Steel Wing.
Gatr can either Boost at this point for 70-80 or use Tsunami again.
If Gatr Boosted then it is dead. If not, Scizor can just Steel Wing and then Cross-Cut next turn for the KO.

The T2 Scizor matchup is the same except much more likely to happen.

Dark Slowking:
Any smart player with a little bit of luck drawing Tools/Machines can really pull this one out.
Sample game:
Gatr attaches an energy.
Slowking does same.
Gatr Tsunamis.
Slowking drops another Slowpoke and Litters for 80
The Gatr player MUST drop a Boost here or otherwise they lose.
Slowking player drops another Dark Slow and KO's Gatr.
Rinse and Repeat.

Speed Typhlosion:
Any smart Gatr player can get around this one. However, not getting a Boost on a key turn can really hamper your chance to win because of Typhlosion's ability to take away your energy.

Politoed/Shedinja:
Actually, the Shedinja dance DOES work. Gatr takes a prize but it still takes the 30 damage. Once that happens, Politoed does do 120 to it, knocking it out. Not to mention that Politoed doesn't necessarily need Shedinja to beat Gatr. It can use its first attack to do 50, then Swallow Up next turn if they Tsunami OR Punch and Run for pretty much anything if he decides to use its second attack (no idea what it is called).

[pichaque]

Politoed: Too slow indeed. Strong and slow. Most I've gotten was T3.

Politeod/Shedinja: You stole my friends idea! Lmao. I prefer something like UF Magcargo to take out its weakness and many of the new archtypes we will be seeing like Meganium, Scizor, Steelix, Foretress etc.

My personal favourite new archtype:

Ariados: I really like this guy. It's really great for a T2 deck (if you go second so you can evolve into Ariados and do massive damage next turn). 1 Grass and you put the defending into Asleep and Poison, and the turn after do a possible 70 damage. I think i might just make a deck with this guy...

[Shlllink]

Yeah I love that card and I was thinking of just the same thing. The only thing is if they wake up then they only take 40 damage...which is still reasonable.

But in the beginning of the game that will be very annoying. Too bad theres still nothing good that can status from the bench.

[pichaque]

40 damage for any Energy is very good. It's basiclaly a T2/T3 deck and it gets very annoying. You could play it with Venusaur ex, switch and do 100 damage (if all status is still remaining).

[Whicker]

Many people have considered Ariados and although it has the ability to be good, it usually isn't due to the huge amount of cards that can get rid of special conditions. Switch, Warp Point, Heal Energy, etc. are all used in the majority of decks.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Yeah ariados seems good, but if there's one thing I learned from my telemarketer deck, it's that you simply cannot rely on special conditions.

[Shlllink]

Its such a shame too. I love special condition decks, but they never seem to cut it. Thats part of the reason why grass hasn't been doing too well.