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Expanded Greninja BREAK

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I feel like I need to look for other sources of inspiration for deck ideas. I will be running this deck vs my local league in tournaments and they all love buzzwole/malamar, and splash in Giratina Promo because they net deck everything!

Here's the list right now, still in the middle of revisions:

Pokemon (19)
3 Greninja BREAK BKP 41
3 Greninja BKP 40
1 Greninja XY 41
4 Frogadier BKP 39
4 Froakie FLI 22
2 Staryu BKP 25
1 Starmie EVO 31
1 Espeon-EX BKP 117

Trainers (31)
3 Professor Sycamore XY 112
3 N DEX 96
2 Cynthia UPR 119
2 Guzma BUS 115
3 Brooklet Hill GRI 120
2 Ultra Ball SM 135
4 Dive Ball PCL 125
3 Evosoda XY 116
3 Choice Band GRI 121
2 Field Blower GRI 125
2 Max Potion GRI 128
1 Super Rod BKT 149
1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130

Energy (10)
4 Splash Energy BKP 113
6 Water Energy WOTC

Now of course it's just a regular break deck, that looks slightly standard and slightly expanded.

I've got 4 vs seekers to put in somewhere, and with basic pokemon abilities, I believe I can also swap out 1 brooklet hill for a silent labs.

I'm not sure if 3 choice bands are necessary either, and the guzma just helps me with activating up to 3 giant water shuriken in one turn.

The Max Potions are there because they have saved my skin a couple of times, 3 evo sodas seem fine, and ofc 1 super/rescue.

Espeon-EX can be replaced with Tapu Lele-GX if needed as well, but I love hitting those shurikens and devolving for more prizes, which is why I also decided to run a 3-1 line of 3 shadow stitching greninja and 1 regular water shuriken greninja for extra 30 damage on the board even while it's on bench.

Any tips and modifications will be highly appreciated!
 

Plaquesanta

೭੧(❛〜❛✿)੭೨
Member
I think I'd max out N and Cynthia, and drop Sycamore to 2. You generally don't want to discard much when you're playing Greninja, and since you're generally down on prizes until mid- to late-game, N is almost guaranteed to give you more cards than your opponent. With VS Seekers, maybe 4-3-1 N-Cynthia-Sycamore? I haven't played an expanded list in a while, so I'm not totally sure what the best choice is. If you use VS Seekers, I'd also try out a single copy of Fisherman, as it's a nice out to 4 energies late in the game if they've knocked out your Starmie.

I've found that 2 Choice Band and 3 Field Blower is a better mix, though I play in a local meta with more Garbodor, so 3 Choice Bands may be better depending on who you'll be playing. In expanded, consider throwing Muscle Bands into the mix there as well. Shadow Stitch plus Muscle Band knocks out a whole bunch of basic Pokemon.

Also, if you're going to have a non-water type in your deck, I'd max out ultra ball and drop the Evosodas. As for which non-water type, I'd go with Lele and find room for a Wally. It doesn't always happen, but if you go second with a Froakie, Wally, and a water energy in hand, it's FRICKIN ON dude! I find that Lele is better in general. You're always going to appreciate a Lele, while Espeon is a dead card in 1/3 of matchups.

I'd also recommend looking at some competitive lists here on PokeBeach. I think there was a Greninja article recently? Greninja is pretty homogenous at this point, with most decks only differing because of tech choices. Since this is an expanded list, I'd also look into a Talonflame engine with no Lele, especially if you're on a budget. Those lists typically contain Silent Lab or Rough Seas. Rough Seas is stupid good in Greninja, as it lets you cycle your attackers and heal 30 every turn.

Whoah! I got way into this! Hope this helps!
 

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I think I'd max out N and Cynthia, and drop Sycamore to 2. You generally don't want to discard much when you're playing Greninja, and since you're generally down on prizes until mid- to late-game, N is almost guaranteed to give you more cards than your opponent. With VS Seekers, maybe 4-3-1 N-Cynthia-Sycamore? I haven't played an expanded list in a while, so I'm not totally sure what the best choice is. If you use VS Seekers, I'd also try out a single copy of Fisherman, as it's a nice out to 4 energies late in the game if they've knocked out your Starmie.

I've found that 2 Choice Band and 3 Field Blower is a better mix, though I play in a local meta with more Garbodor, so 3 Choice Bands may be better depending on who you'll be playing. In expanded, consider throwing Muscle Bands into the mix there as well. Shadow Stitch plus Muscle Band knocks out a whole bunch of basic Pokemon.

Also, if you're going to have a non-water type in your deck, I'd max out ultra ball and drop the Evosodas. As for which non-water type, I'd go with Lele and find room for a Wally. It doesn't always happen, but if you go second with a Froakie, Wally, and a water energy in hand, it's FRICKIN ON dude! I find that Lele is better in general. You're always going to appreciate a Lele, while Espeon is a dead card in 1/3 of matchups.

I'd also recommend looking at some competitive lists here on PokeBeach. I think there was a Greninja article recently? Greninja is pretty homogenous at this point, with most decks only differing because of tech choices. Since this is an expanded list, I'd also look into a Talonflame engine with no Lele, especially if you're on a budget. Those lists typically contain Silent Lab or Rough Seas. Rough Seas is stupid good in Greninja, as it lets you cycle your attackers and heal 30 every turn.

Whoah! I got way into this! Hope this helps!


Thanks for all the solid advice! I'll set up the 4-3-1 for N cynthia and sycamore, and drop guzma down to 1 so I can see what I can do with the 1 fisherman. There are lots of common pokemon around too, so I will try out 3 muscle bands as opposed to 3 choices. I have 2 Lele so using 1 is no problem along with Wally for that possible turn 1 or turn 2 frogadier!

Do you believe I should still run brooklet hill if I have 4 counts of both ultra ball and dive ball? I will also add in computer search into my list, too since that can make it very easy for me to hit the Wally turn 1.

Thanks for all the solid info too! Do you believe the deck is consistent enough for not using brooklet, so I can benefit from rough seas? My options are open and I can make as many changes as necessary. All it takes is time to see how my renditions of greninja break go. :)
 

Plaquesanta

೭੧(❛〜❛✿)੭೨
Member
It ran pretty well before Brooklet Hill, though it was a bit less consistent. Talonflame was a revelation for the deck, as long as your opponent didn't N chain.

Yes, you should run Brooklet Hill and Ultra Ball! It's frickin dope midgame to Rescue Stretcher or Super Rod into a Brooklet Hill search to grab a Froakie or Staryu.


Personally I think it's a better deck with Brooklet Hill, but those other stadium combos are so good that it's worth testing out. In Expanded I tend to lean towards Rough Seas because of how good it is against Trevenant, but it's more about your local meta, like I said.

Unless you're facing a bunch of baby Buzzwole decks, I'd probably try Two Choice and one Muscle.

Another thing to note is that Greninja is a fickle mistress. One game it'll completely obliterate the board in 5 turns, and in others you'll be lucky to survive 4 turns with a lone Froakie on the board. The trick is to make it work more often than it bricks.

Play solitaire and practice your opening turn. Try switching around item counts and see what works! I'm working on a new Greninja list in expanded, and I'll share it when I'm done!
 

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Alright I'll give it a go! The tip for using more N and Cynthia does make sense since I have sycamore'd things away in the past.

I can understand how ninja bricks a lot too, but if my opponent doesn't go for the head, it turns into a looong game where I eventually shadow stitch them to death and come back from a 6-1 prize game, lol!

I look forward to seeing your deck list, I'll let you know how mine does on Friday as well! I'll make a deck revision later too!
 

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Alolan Muk maybe to shut off Giratina? Just a thought.

Considering the necessity of greninja break as a technical stage 3 deck, and including staryu and starmie; there isn't much room for Alolan Muk and grimer to fit.

Possibly a 1/1 Staryu Starmie line along with Grimer and Muk could work, but that hurts bench space a lot too. Greninja break always wants to hit those 4 frogadier asap, and the last two spaces are usually staryu and lele. With super scoop up lele could be brought back up without using a supporter, but then I'd opt to using her vs Muk.

Thanks for the input!
 

The Golden Mewtwo

Currently crying because I'm a 16 year old senior
Member
And now that FBL is out, I would run the 70 HP Frokie and drop the XY Greninja for the GX version
 

Christopher Shehan

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Enhanced hammer is generally pretty good in expanded unless nobody in your league plays Zoroark. Teammates, Ghetsis, Hex Maniac are generally cards I always try to find room for. 2-2 line of Booklet and Seas should be worth considering. Colress is insanely good with all the full benches people run
 

Chicken Nugget Master

I had the munchies when I came up with my username
Member
You also don't need 4 Frokie, you really only need one on the field to get things going
One Froakie? Tell me, have you ever seen greninja being played? You need at minimum 3 froakie, so you can return greninja to your hand thanks to splash energy, and then set it back up again.
 

The Golden Mewtwo

Currently crying because I'm a 16 year old senior
Member
I said 1 on the board not 1 in the deck, all he needs to do is drop the Frokie for something else
 

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I said 1 on the board not 1 in the deck, all he needs to do is drop the Frokie for something else

Dropping a Froakie is a no-go. Every deck wants to run the 4-4-4-3 line for maximum consistency. Being able to use the splash energy to put a froakie back down if one is gone is extremely important if the opponent is faster.

I've made a decklist that seems a bit more solid, but could still use some tweaks.


Pokemon (19)
3 Greninja BREAK BKP 41
4 Greninja BKP 40
4 Frogadier BKP 39
4 Froakie FLI 22
2 Staryu BKP 25
1 Starmie EVO 31
1 Tapu Lele GX GRI

Trainers (31)
3 N DEX 96
2 Cynthia UPR 119
2 Wally XY 94
1 Professor Sycamore XY 112
1 Guzma BUS 115
1 Hex Maniac XY 75
1 Colress BW 118
1 Computer Search
2 Vs Seeker
3 Brooklet Hill GRI 120
3 Ultra Ball SM 135
4 Dive Ball PCL 125
2 Choice Band GRI 121
1 Muscle Band XY 121
2 Field Blower GRI 125
1 Super Rod BKT 149
1 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130

Energy (10)
4 Splash Energy BKP 113
6 Water Energy WOTC



Other considerations are:
-1 Brooklet for +1 Silent Lab
-1 Staryu for +1 Cynthia
-1 Staryu for +1 Ultra
-2 of anything for 2 more Vs Seekers
 

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
And now that FBL is out, I would run the 70 HP Frokie and drop the XY Greninja for the GX version

Thanks for the couple of posts! Using a Greninja GX over the XY sounds very interesting, and it could be used with mist + diveball shenanigans to re-distribute my board.

What do you think about 2 brooklet 2 silent lab? I've got a lot of people who use basic ability pokemon, but I do like the idea of 2 brooklet and 2 rough seas. I added a new list that I think you could look at!
 

CeroKai

Aspiring Trainer
Member
It ran pretty well before Brooklet Hill, though it was a bit less consistent. Talonflame was a revelation for the deck, as long as your opponent didn't N chain.

Yes, you should run Brooklet Hill and Ultra Ball! It's frickin dope midgame to Rescue Stretcher or Super Rod into a Brooklet Hill search to grab a Froakie or Staryu.


Personally I think it's a better deck with Brooklet Hill, but those other stadium combos are so good that it's worth testing out. In Expanded I tend to lean towards Rough Seas because of how good it is against Trevenant, but it's more about your local meta, like I said.

Unless you're facing a bunch of baby Buzzwole decks, I'd probably try Two Choice and one Muscle.

Another thing to note is that Greninja is a fickle mistress. One game it'll completely obliterate the board in 5 turns, and in others you'll be lucky to survive 4 turns with a lone Froakie on the board. The trick is to make it work more often than it bricks.

Play solitaire and practice your opening turn. Try switching around item counts and see what works! I'm working on a new Greninja list in expanded, and I'll share it when I'm done!


Please take a look at my list! Has yours been made yet?
 
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