u/ReptilPT

If you are not Dragapult (and even then), it gets tricky to deal with Mega Lopunny/Starmie/Froslass since they can heal with Wally, get the energy back in hand and then attach/attack again.

Okay sure Starmie first attack isn't great but they do have Ignition for the second one.

It is very rare that you can OHKO them. So usually you need the two attacks. Which then gives them margin to heal.

I know that it limits them to have the Wally in hand, and not have any other supporter being able to be used then. But still.. With the dunsparce line, they seem to be able to deal with it.

So.. How can they be dealt with in such cases? 😁

In mean besides running Garchomp/Okidogi

I made a similar post some months ago, where I analyzed the different builds that existed pre-rotarion with Ethan's Typhlosion, which is a deck I like but always felt like he was falling a bit too short. Mostly due to damage spread.

Before rotation, I favored the Pidgeot Ex built, since it allowed to get the exact pieces you needed when you needed them. It was still a 2-prize liability in what is at its soul a 1-prizer style deck, but needed since Typhlosion needs OHKOs, which it can do, but needed specific pieces against the high HP Pokémon (Charizard, Pult, Gardevoir, etc).

The deck could be played with some skills. I have pulled some crazy sequencing at my locals with secret box. Achieving even a 4-prize turn against Pult when at first I thought I was cornered and should concede.

Now, going to the topic itself, I put the deck on the shelf after rotation for two/three reasons. First one was that without Pidgeot ex, I felt it would be hard to find the pieces needed when needed. Second, with all the "one-of" or two-of some cards (like gravity mountain or brave bangle), it was hard to find them in a format where consistency (and simplicity) was meant to be king. Third but not last, I was worried about the pace of the deck.

However Yasmin Kiss went to Prague and did what I wish I would do with the deck, reach day 2.

Since then, I went back to play a bit with the deck, but I still struggle with the same issues. Even that based on my excel, ptcg live might be unreliable since I prize more Ethan's card (Pokémon or adventure) than what would be expected with normal probabilities. But let's move on from that, since more testing would be needed to confirm.

I tried the Drakloaks build, the dunsparce built from Darkfury and for a very little time even the Tatsugiri build. They all came down to the same issues. Too slow. Prized pieces can heavily hinder. If some cyndaquil/Quilavas are KO early, it is hard to recover them to take all the KOs needed.

Looking at Chaos Rising and the July set, I don't see anything that could help. Red card could a bit, for a comeback. And maybe the patrat could help against the Munkodoris, but that's more of the same pattern as psyduck/Shaymin. The new fire energy special doesn't do anything for it either.

Another problem with the deck currently is more high HP Pokémon like Méga Starmie, that can't be OHKO easily, and then can recover with Wally.

Still, I would like to know your opinion. And just saying the deck is garbage, won't help :P again, somehow took it day 2. So it is not bdif but neither pure garbage.

I do like that it can hit for a lot. 320 can be easily achieved with Victini and brave bangle. And that you can chain it. Quilava, Ethan's Adventure, etc etc.

Is just.. Feels that in the current high pace and high hp format, the deck gets worse instead of better.

I admit that I might have made a similar post about Pult/Mega Lucario some weeks ago, but this is slightly different.

Meaning that before rotation, and with Arven/Iono/Pidgeot Ex/Artazon and others rotating, it was mentioned how important drawing engines like the Drakloaks would be.

However, the more I play with this meta - which maybe I can be wrong - I feel that many decks are surviving with no draw engine or barely any.

For example Grimsnarl is not thaaat strong as it used to be with tm devo. But I have faced 2 in Prague, and the lack of drawing engine didn't seem to affect them.

Same with Cynthia Garchomp. Okay the ability allows them to chain the Cynthia Pokemons similar to Ethan's adventure. But still.

Even Méga Starmie with either Dusknoir or Méga Froslass seems to always find the pieces they need along the game.

Okay we can argue that the Slop Boxes and every Ogerpon deck has Ogerpon for extra draw,and Team Rockets deck have a thousand supporters plus the stadium, so those do have it.

Maybe it will change once Chaos Rising is out. Is just that I had this feeling that decks without engine could struggle more.

However as someone mentioned in a post in a different sub, this meta seems to be whoever can setup their board first, by turn 2 or even turn 1, already won the game.