M Rayquaza-EX / Bronzong

I agree with @ProZlockie, Parallel City is a plague for this deck... It ruins our battlefield, discards the Skyfield already in game, and forces you to search for an other one in order to have a chance to hit again with M-Rayquaza EX.

Zoroark is a big threat too, but it is more easy to adapt the strategy to his presence.

Hoopa EX is the main card of this deck, the one which will give you everything you need to set up quickly, and fill the bench in order to hit hard with M-Rayquaza.
He is a nice target for AZ after a Parralel City too ;)

The army of Metal Pokémon makes it harder for M-Manectric EX (and Electric decks in general) to dominate the matchup.

Here are some ideas to fill the 6 open slots in the skeleton list :
- a 2nd Battle Compressor seems quite recommended (to feed Bronzong with 1 or 2 energies, and choose the right Supporter for your VS Seeker)
- Hex Maniac : quite obvious
- Pokemon Fan Club (1 copy) is great, searching for Hoopa EX and Bronzor when needed
- Winona (1 copy) can be tested too, can have the same effect than Hoopa EX when no Ultra Ball in opening hand
- 1-1 Zoroark line : perfect with Float Stone and DCE, and highly benefits from Skyfield
- Xerosic : able to give you that extra-turn needed to complete your set up
- Judge : can win some games alone
 
I can honestly see why this would be considered tier 3. It dies to all of the new decks, but to be fair, almost no decks play Parallel City because of the obviously better stadium choices. If it had a better counter for Raikou, or Mega Man, then maybe it could rise a tier, but until then, the deck's practically garbage. And this is one of my favorite decks OAT.
 
Personally to deal with Mega Man, NightMarch (Joltik in particular), and other lightning types, I run a 1-1 Altaria ROS line. If I'm going into an area with a heavier lightning showing than my specific area, I even try to bump it up to a 2-2 (although I struggle finding space). Although it isn't a perfect thing, it adds another basic to drop onto the bench and gets rid of weakness for at least a turn (assuming hex maniac isn't played).

Also, will this deck benefit from Max Elixir? If so, how?
 
I have heavily tested the M-Manectric EX matchup, and even if it is not easy, this deck has some weapons to oppose.

The most important is to adapt the strategy : M-Manectric EX and Raikou can OHKO M-Rayquaza EX, and that's a problem. Leave him on the bench and choose the right moment to bring him on the front side. During that time, Heatran & Aegislash can deal with the early game.

It is a good idea to switch a colorless Rayqauaza EX for a Dragon type one. Search for him with Hoopa EX as soon as you see anything yellow on the opponent's board :)
Dragon Rayquaza EX has no lightning weakness, he will be able to survive until his m-evolution and the beginning of the real game :)

I see a bigger problem in Regice (when he is played). Only Heatran, and Lysandre for a short time, can deal with him...
That's why a 1-1 Zoroark line can be a good option too.
 
What do people think about Sacred Ash in this deck? I personally think a 1 or 2 of Sacred Ash works miracles for this deck. It "counters" Parallel City (as long as you can set down a Sky Field) pretty good, in my opinion.
 
To cover a lot of things said, MegaMan is a problem, as well as NM, so 1-1 Altaria is almost a necessity, but if it gives you trouble, play Sacred Ash, which you should be doing anyway. With Regice, I had played 2 Heatran at the time it was new, but I found a 1-1 split of Heatran and Registeel was great, and no, the deck doesn't work well with Max Elixir because the deck plays Bronzong(Since you discard your energy), and on top of that, you only play 5-6 anyway. I would agree that 1 Dragon ray would be a good tech, but I personally play a 4-3 in my list, so there's that to survive early game, plus it has more HP, which more often than not makes or breaks your game. All metal decks in general already play Zoroark, so if you don't already have that, the non- holo ones on Ebay are like, what, 3 dollars? There's also other variants that play Raichu and Fighting. I'll give sample lists since I played nearly every variant the deck has to offer:

Metal Ray:
Pokemon:21
  • 2 Rayquaza-EX(Colorless)
  • 1 Rayquaza-EX(Dragon)
  • 3 M- Rayquaza-EX
  • 3 Shaymin-EX
  • 1 Hoopa-EX
  • 3 Bronzor
  • 2 Bronzong
  • 1 Zorua
  • 1 Zoroark
  • 1 Aegislash-EX
  • 1 Heatran
  • 1 Swablu
  • 1 Altaria
Trainers:30
  • 3Sycamore
  • 1 Judge
  • 1 Birch
  • 1 Shauna
  • 1 AZ
  • 1 Lysandre
  • 4 Sky field
  • 2 Float Stone
  • 2 Rayquaza Spirit Link
  • 4 Ultra Ball
  • 3Trainers' Mail
  • 1 Battle Compressor
  • 4 VS Seeker
  • 1 Sacred Ash
  • 1 Fan Club
Energy:9
  • 4 DCE
  • 5 Metal
Anyway, that's the first sample list. I feel like this is probably the most solid list for Metal Ray, but I don't remember my entire list that I had before. It can be a little klunky, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes smooth and easy-going.
 
You're screwed,
the only way to play mega ray now is 3 Hoopa 4 Shaymin and hope you aren't I tem locked so you can play Ultra ball and Mega turbo. It's the most expensive deck ever. playin less than 2 Lysandre in case of Wobbs or Trev is stupid and might not work, NVM vs garbodor
 
fr33land said:
You're screwed,
the only way to play mega ray now is 3 Hoopa 4 Shaymin and hope you aren't I tem locked so you can play Ultra ball and Mega turbo. It's the most expensive deck ever. playin less than 2 Lysandre in case of Wobbs or Trev is stupid and might not work, NVM vs garbodor
Click to expand...

I can't disagree more with that.
I have heavily played a lot of kind of M-Rayquaza EX decks, and a lot of them remain a very strong choice.
There's a lot of variants, and some of them can be a true surprise in the current metagame.

I only see one very very VERY hard matchup : Trevenant, if the opponent managed to start the game and to item lock Turn 1 (otherwise you have 1 turn to set up your board and it is often enough).

Each slot in this deck is very precious.
A second copy of Lysandre would perhaps increase the chance vs Trevenant, but would cut a nice card vs other decks.

Wobbuffet has never been a problem in my tests. Hoopa EX can still do his job, and Shaymin EX is not as crucial as you seems to think. Don't forget that you don't necessarily need to have 8 Pokémon on your bench to put a big pressure on your opponent ;)
4 Pokémons on the bench are usually enough to OHKO most of the non-EX threats.

If it is a bad idea to play a deck that have some difficulties vs a perfect start from ONE Tier 2 deck, everybody would play Night March :)
However, that's true that if your area is full of Trevenants, it is time for you to invest in some Lucario EX ;)
 
bidou said:
I can't disagree more with that.
I have heavily played a lot of kind of M-Rayquaza EX decks, and a lot of them remain a very strong choice.
There's a lot of variants, and some of them can be a true surprise in the current metagame.

I only see one very very VERY hard matchup : Trevenant, if the opponent managed to start the game and to item lock Turn 1 (otherwise you have 1 turn to set up your board and it is often enough).

Each slot in this deck is very precious.
A second copy of Lysandre would perhaps increase the chance vs Trevenant, but would cut a nice card vs other decks.

Wobbuffet has never been a problem in my tests. Hoopa EX can still do his job, and Shaymin EX is not as crucial as you seems to think. Don't forget that you don't necessarily need to have 8 Pokémon on your bench to put a big pressure on your opponent ;)
4 Pokémons on the bench are usually enough to OHKO most of the non-EX threats.

If it is a bad idea to play a deck that have some difficulties vs a perfect start from ONE Tier 2 deck, everybody would play Night March :)
However, that's true that if your area is full of Trevenants, it is time for you to invest in some Lucario EX ;)
Click to expand...

Beat me to saying it. I agree that Trevenant is an incredibly hard match up, along with YZG (at least I've had some troubles with it, not sure about others). I almost never play more than 2 Hoopa-EX (and that's only in expanded that I play 2), 4 Shaymin is also excessive (again, only to be played in a speed variant) 3 works fine. Also, Garbodor isn't that popular anymore (at least I haven't heard much about it).

And just because I can't find it anywhere, has any variant of this done well at states? If so, can someone please direct me to where I would possibly be able to view a list or something? (mine is getting boring to run, at least in my area).
 
ProZlockie said:
Beat me to saying it. I agree that Trevenant is an incredibly hard match up, along with YZG (at least I've had some troubles with it, not sure about others). I almost never play more than 2 Hoopa-EX (and that's only in expanded that I play 2), 4 Shaymin is also excessive (again, only to be played in a speed variant) 3 works fine. Also, Garbodor isn't that popular anymore (at least I haven't heard much about it).

And just because I can't find it anywhere, has any variant of this done well at states? If so, can someone please direct me to where I would possibly be able to view a list or something? (mine is getting boring to run, at least in my area).
Click to expand...
Check Pokemon.com. The first featured list from States is Mega Ray.
 
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