Thinking Ahead: Furthest Ends of Offense and Defense

[ZAKtheGeek]

Long before feraligatr ex came out, I read about it and dreamt of the possibilities. The card was a deck unto itself: it had setup attack, power attack, AND disruption. I thought it would be great, and months later, I was disappointed. It was too slow. It couldn't get out and start disrupting, attacking, or both. This card was never really appreciated by the general community, it seems. Disruption with stage 1, however, remained in popularity.

Now to the actual topic at hand. The furthest ends of offense and defense, the next set in japan (two sets away for the US), has a boatload of amazing cards. It's a great parallel to unseen forces for this season. Here's one I imagine many people would overlook for more self-sufficient cards:

Altaria ex d - Water - HP100
Stage 1 - Evolves from Swablu

Poke-Power: Extra Boost
Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Stage 2 Evolved Pokemon-ex. This Power can't be used if Altaria ex is affected by a Special Condition.

[W][C][C] Healing Light: 60 damage. Remove 1 damage counter from each of your Pokemon in play.

Weakness: Colorless
Resistance: Grass/Fighting
Retreat: 1
(spoiler from pokegym.net)

This fits amazingly well with gatr, I realized! First of all, what I was actually looking for, its power: an amazingly limited free attachment. But it works for gatr, a stage 2 ex. And gatr does have trouble getting enough energy on it in time. Plus, with holon's magnetrode and castform, this could be used blastoise-style: drop a free basic energy and replace it with 2 rainbows. Plus, it seems this power is cumulative, so it could potentially be used for turbo setups or comebacks.

Then we move on to the more subtle synergy. First off, it's a water type, and needs water energy to attack. Fits great into a gatr deck! It's also a stage 1, which is very convenient; most of the few cards that could help gatr out are stage 2. Two stage 2's in one deck can be pretty rough, especially without pidgeot/magcargo. Speaking of which, altaria is also an ex, meaning its is NOT blocked by gatr, like most supporting powers would be.

Also, it IS a water type, but since it's a delta, that's an "odd" type and it keeps its "normal" typestats. That means it's not weak to lightning like gatr is. Diverse weaknesses make it difficult to decimate a deck just by using a particular type. It's also got two resistances, but I can't comment on their usefulness, seeing as the metagame this is to be played in is many months and a very major tournament away. Its attack is decent, so it can fight for itself should the need arise.

So, that's about it. Seems to me like these cards really work together well, and I'll probably be trying this deck out when FEOD comes out (probably earlier <_<). What do you think of this? Can you think of any problems with it or ways to improve it?

[Bullados]

Just watch out for random Pidgeot Deltas, as those will shut you down faster than the IRS. Oh, wait...

Actually, I'm quite surprised that this looks to work. Hell, I didn't even remember what G8r's Body was exactly. D00d, keep this AWAY from the Gym, AT ALL COSTS. I don't want the E4 or the Secret Boards to know ANYTHING about this particular deck. I wanna build it myself...

Looking at it again, it will be about a half turn too slow in most cases. The deck will essentially require 4 Candy and enough Card Drawing to wipe out most Asian countries. Altaria only attaches to Feraligatr, and cannot attach either to itself or to G8r's previous forms. Here's a build I would expect to see for this deck:

Pokemon (19):
4 Totodile
2 Croconaw
4 Feraligatr ex
3 Swablu
3 Altaria ex
3 Jirachi DX

Trainers (26):
4 Rare Candy
4 TV Reporter
3 Holon Transceiver
2 Holon Mentor
1 Holon Farmer
1 Holon Scientist
4 Elm's or Wally's Training
3 HPS or Crystal Beach
4 Hermit

Energy (15):
15 Water

Hermit - Trainer - Supporter
Turn 2 of your Prize cards face up. Draw 2 cards.

Crystal Beach - Trainer - Stadium
Any Energy Card that provides 2 or more Energy at the same time now provides [C]. No Pokemon Power can change this effect.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Oh, I have no intention of posting this on any bigger boards.

Now, about the starter... What is anyone supposed to do with jirachi in the next format? No swoop, so what, just retreat it after hoping to wake up after a turn of wishing? I guess it's not too much of an issue, since there's a slew of good starters to be coming into existance...

Also, this could end up needing a tech for dustox, the one safeguarder gatr can't laugh at...

[Bullados]

nah, Jirachi just stays up there till it dies or until you decide to bring it back. Either way, it's pretty nice.

For Dustox, couldn't you try Seal Crystal? I can't remember the exact restrictions it has, but wouldn't that work? Also, Jirachi is good there b/c of its 50 for 2 and resistance.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Jirachi's never going to attack if all the energy is water.

Seal crystal doesn't go on ex's. I'm thinking, EM altaria: it's great against dustox, plus it would really help against metaknight. But multi, rainbow or holon's would be necessary in that case (works for jirachi also; no crystal beach if holon's).

[Bullados]

What about UF Feraligatr? I've always thought it was somewhat underrated as a simple beatstick or as minor hand disruption. Jirachi doesn't really have to attack. Maybe just make it so that it *can* attack? Holon's Pokemon here we come!

[ZAKtheGeek]

If you're going to enable different energy types, you might as well go with EM altaria. It seems like the only advantage UF gatr has is that it uses water and nothing else.

Also, I can't say for certain, but it sort of seems like some people at the gym have caught on to a similar idea, but with the new dragonite instead. Which, in a way, sounds better. At the same time, no variations other than this one are immune to pidgeot. Obviously, a lot will depend on how the next several months play out...

[Bullados]

Dragonite? Well, it looks interesting. Very beatstickish, but so is this. This also has that very nice disruption substrategy going on. Draggy *could* be a disruptor, but only for a short while. I never really liked the Disconnect idea, it just seems somewhat feeble compared to a lot of what's out there.

I'm sorta wondering what starter you had planned for this deck. For me, I don't think that a Call for Fam starter would work very well, mostly b/c it doesn't have the magic number of 3 in there. 2 is very small, and it doesn't include a free switch in the process. Are there any non-Family Call Starters you can think of?

[ZAKtheGeek]

If all else fails, there's yanma, I guess...

Oh, right, right. Duh. Mawile!

But I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just pointing out that a number of options existed.

[Bullados]

Which set is Mawile from? FEoOD, or CG? I'd like to see what this card does...

[ZAKtheGeek]

Crystal guardians.

Mawile - Steel – HP60
Basic Pokemon

[C] Mining: Search your deck for a Trainer card, show it to your opponent, and put it in your hand. Shuffle your deck afterward. If the card you chose is a Pokemon Tool card, attach it to 1 of your Pokemon.
[M][C] Bite Off: 20 damage. If the Defending Pokemon is Pokemon-ex, this attack does 20
damage + 30 more damage.

Weakness: Fire
Resistance: Grass
Retreat: 1
(pokebeach.com)

Fights equally well against dustox, I note...

[Bullados]

I don't really see how it's better than Jirachi for the purposes of this deck. It's pretty much the same thing: leave active until dead or set up, retreat for big attackers. Only the search is more limited than Jirachi's...

[ZAKtheGeek]

Well, jirachi doesn't exactly "search..."

This also isn't vulnerable to failed flips or poison/burn. So they both have their advantages.

[ZAKtheGeek]

So, how's the perspective changed over the past month? I think this could be screwed by a "who cares, just use cessation crystal" sentiment... Also, pidgeot doesn't appear to be a factor (for similar reasons I guess), but that's yet to be determined.

On a completely different wavelength, post 2k!

[Bullados]

I think this has potential still. CC doesn't really affect this combo that much when compared to other Altaria combos, as it can't be attached to ex's. Dragonite is still more promising, but both are potentially downgraded due to the instant Muk ability of CC. I think we'll be seeing a lot more CC in the format, as well as potentially a lot more anti-Tool decks, which is where Draggy might have a bit of an edge over this card, if translated like PB has it right now. I still wanna see the G8rMan used in some capacity, I just don't think this particular incarnation will work particularly well.

Windstorm will likely be this deck's only saving grace, completely stopping CC before it has a chance to hurt. Most decks will likely be running 2-4 of both CC and Windstorm now, mostly b/c CC is simply that dam good...

[ZAKtheGeek]

What I meant was, does it seem like it's a little pointless to use Feraligatr, when instead you could use Cessation Crystal + something else to similar or greater effect for less effort?

[Bullados]

The way Milotic is used, no. Milotic can only be used with Stage 2 Pokemon-ex. CC can't be put on ex's. CC hampers this deck somewhat, but this is still the only reliable Power stopping Speed deck in the format. You could always try backing it up with a single UF G8r and 2 CCs for the Meganium matchup, but I don't see why you would want to make the effort...

[ZAKtheGeek]

Assuming that by Milotic you meant Altaria (if not, then I'm lost), then I still don't think you get what I mean. I'm not saying it's better to combine Milotic with something else that uses Cessation Crystal. That doesn't make sense; Cessation Crystal stops your own Milotic. I'm saying, as opposed to using a Stage 2 ex that needs a blockable Stage 1 support, it could be possible to use Cessation Crystal with some strong Stage 1 (or 2, maybe) that isn't an ex, ending up with a good attacker that blocks more powers than Gatr and requires no setup partner, ey perhaps sets up as fast or even faster.

Now do you see what I mean? The distuptive power of Gatr is undermined by the very versatile CC. At least, I think it might seem that way...

[Bullados]

Possibly, but the energy acceleration thing is kinda important, even for a Stage 1. CC works very well in a Eggs.dec kind of deck, where you spread damage and have no powers or Bodies to worry about. Problem is that there are very few of those left in the game right now. Also, I wonder as to the effectiveness of CC with Windstorm in the same set, plus all the Pokemon attacks that discard Tools. I'm not really sure if CC is as powerful as many people say it is. in fact, I think it's weaker than most will anticipate, much like Battle Frontier back in Emerald. Good card, but it didn't significantly change the format. CC will likely be the same thing. If you rely on Powers/Bodies for your deck to work, you'll run 4 Windstorm. If you don't, you'll run 4 CC. Eventually, people will wonder about the point, and start reducing those numbers until none of either are being run.

[ZAKtheGeek]

Well, I hope so. We'll see, I guess.

But on the point of energy acceleration, I don't know. A number of good cards for this use 3 or less energy, plus they can utilize DRE. Obviously, there's no way they'd hit as hard as Gatr, though.

[Bullados]

It's just that CC is much more fickle than it first appears. Also, if your opponent is running CC, then G8r's job is already done for him. All he has to do now is smash while the smashin's good. It's a good idea to run 2-4 Windstorm just for the first few turns of the game to make sure that you get one G8r running, but you really don't *need* Altaria for G8r to be a monster; he just helps the process along.

[ZAKtheGeek]

http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40584

Post #11. Maybe I was right. Guess it doesn't matter that much anymore, though.

[Bullados]

I'm really not sure what the next big deck will be. I'm still gonna keep playing decks that I enjoy playing. The G8r/Altaria thing sounds like a lot of fun. It'll be somewhat of a hastle getting all the Tauros for that deck, tho...

[ZAKtheGeek]

Former Pokeschool member (I'm assuming) supertyranitar also seems to have some feel for Altaria's usefulness. There's something about this place, eh?

[Bullados]

always a fun time. Also, the deck I'm building is more of a training exercise for my Leaguers than anything else. I've sort of given up on competitive playing for judging, mostly b/c I know I can't win crap against the likes of Jimmy and the E4, all of whom are right in my backyard...

[ZAKtheGeek]

Well, there's pretty much no secret now. (http://pokegym.net/forums/showthread.php?t=42165)

[Bullados]

I actually kinda like that Meganium idea. It's interesting, to say the least. 6 free energy per turn? Brilliant!!! The fact that both Pokemon are fairly decent hitters is merely a bonus for the midgame speed that they provide. I'm just worried that they won't stack up to Mewtrick...

[ZAKtheGeek]

I felt it would be too hard to get all the energy to use MegaTaria to maximum effect quite a while ago.