Standard Alolan Ninetales GX

[Sharkrai]

I originally wanted to try a fire/water deck with delphic break and alolan ninetales gx, but decided to put that aside for now and try to create something I can use at competitions. I want to adjust it a bit later with possibly tapu fini, but this is my list for now. These are based on cards I currently have accessible to me, so any feedback is appreciated! Thanks~

--- Deck List ---

Pokemon (16):
4x Alolan Vulpix - GRI 21
3x Alolan Ninetales GX - GRI 22
2x Alolan Sandshrew - GRI 19 (Free moves are always nice?)
2x Alolan Sandslash- GRI 20 (draw, can't always get your hand below 5 for octillery so a guaranteed extra draw every turn is nice)
1x Mewtwo - EVO 51
1x Shaymin EX - PR XY148 (Healing while setting up)
1x Sudowoodo - GRI 66 (Tech)
1x Machop - GEN 40
1x Machoke - GRI 64 (Sniper Counter)

Energy (12):
3x Double Colorless
1x Rainbow
8x Water

Trainer (32):
4x Shauna (Draw, kind of like a replacement for sycamore)
1x Brigette
4x Aqua Patch
2x Brooklet Hill
2x Choice Band
2x Skyla
3x Ilima (Kind of as a replacement for N)
1x Town Map
1x Special Charge (On ptcgo, I've used the DCE as discard material on Ninetales since that way it counts as 2 and I only wasted 1 turn of energy equipping rather than 2, so with this I can keep the energy flow coming if that makes sense)
1x Hex Maniac
2x Lysandre
1x Mallow
4x Ultraball
1x Sycamore
1x Delinquent
2x Red Card

--- End of Deck List ---

I've been referencing some of the ninetales gx decks from various internationals and started from there. Towards the end though I became a bit indecisive as to what trainers I should include since the rotation is coming soon as well. I considered cards like Machoke - GRI 64 to shutdown any bench damage, of course the upcoming Tapu Fini GX, Delinquent, Olympia, Team Skull Grunt, Brock's Grit, Bent Spoon, Splash Energy, etc, but I wanna try to refrain from rough seas with the rotation coming. Lysandre I ended up leaving because...well...he's kind too meta it seems to leave him out until the rotation actually happens. Shaymin was just of something unexpected and fun. Again, any advice is welcome, thanks!

Edit: Put a 4th ultraball, 2 red cards, sycamore, alolan sandslash line, and machoke line in and removed wally, misty's determination, Dodrio line, and corsola.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Scrap the Dodrio line IMO. If you want lower retreat, use Manaphy EX. While its ability only works on those with Water energy attached, it takes up less deck space. I'd also drop the Corsola simply because Brigette gets your bench set up much quicker and Vulpix can simply search out other Pokemon for free.

I don't see the use for Misty's Determination. Yes, she lets you dig deeper for a card you want, but I'd rather spend the supporter getting set up with Sycamore or N or disrupting the opponent with Lysandre or Delinquent. Wally isn't much of a necessity IMO because Vulpix can simply search out its evolved form. To put things bluntly, Shauna and Ilima are terrible supporters simply because the former nets you less cards than Sycamore (or even N if you still have all your prizes). While the discard may be painful in some situations with Sycamore, digging deeper into your deck for the cards you need is totally worth it. Ilima relies on coin flips to be successful. There's also the possibility of you failing the coin flip and your opponent succeeding in theirs, and that's shooting yourself in the foot. At least try to invest in Sycamores and Ns simply because they're staple supporters in virtually every deck. Lysandre is also too good to ignore; outright KOing or at least severely wounding a problematic benched Pokemon with Blizzard Edge or Ice Path instead of poking at it with Ice Blade is more worthwhile. Once Lysandre rotates out, Guzma works nicely as the substitute.

 

[Sharkrai]

Scrap the Dodrio line IMO. If you want lower retreat, use Manaphy EX. While its ability only works on those with Water energy attached, it takes up less deck space. I'd also drop the Corsola simply because Brigette gets your bench set up much quicker and Vulpix can simply search out other Pokemon for free.

I don't see the use for Misty's Determination. Yes, she lets you dig deeper for a card you want, but I'd rather spend the supporter getting set up with Sycamore or N or disrupting the opponent with Lysandre or Delinquent. Wally isn't much of a necessity IMO because Vulpix can simply search out its evolved form. To put things bluntly, Shauna and Ilima are terrible supporters simply because the former nets you less cards than Sycamore (or even N if you still have all your prizes). While the discard may be painful in some situations with Sycamore, digging deeper into your deck for the cards you need is totally worth it. Ilima relies on coin flips to be successful. There's also the possibility of you failing the coin flip and your opponent succeeding in theirs, and that's shooting yourself in the foot. At least try to invest in Sycamores and Ns simply because they're staple supporters in virtually every deck. Lysandre is also too good to ignore; outright KOing or at least severely wounding a problematic benched Pokemon with Blizzard Edge or Ice Path instead of poking at it with Ice Blade is more worthwhile. Once Lysandre rotates out, Guzma works nicely as the substitute.

Thanks! Only issue I have is how expensive buying single cards can get when comparing different trainers :/ I already have a sycamore (have plenty of juniper, but sadly not sycamore) and I can't find the N's I had so just was kinda hoping I could get away with replacements. I'm thinking maybe taking the 2 Wally, 2 Misty, and 2 corsola out, but trying to decide about the shauna, ilima, and dodrio line, since those are very very valid points you have. I'll at least take one of each of the dodrio line out, but also trying to decide what to replace with. What if I take the dodrio line out and put a couple olympias in? and any thoughts on tapu fini gx and machoke (since decidueye gx and tapu koko are pretty popular rn)?

 

[PlatinumDude]

Thanks! Only issue I have is how expensive buying single cards can get when comparing different trainers :/ I already have a sycamore (have plenty of juniper, but sadly not sycamore) and I can't find the N's I had so just was kinda hoping I could get away with replacements. I'm thinking maybe taking the 2 Wally, 2 Misty, and 2 corsola out, but trying to decide about the shauna, ilima, and dodrio line, since those are very very valid points you have. I'll at least take one of each of the dodrio line out, but also trying to decide what to replace with. What if I take the dodrio line out and put a couple olympias in? and any thoughts on tapu fini gx and machoke (since decidueye gx and tapu koko are pretty popular rn)?

Manaphy EX is still a better alternative over Dodrio because it takes up less deck space. Olympia isn't necessary because Ninetales' retreat cost is cheap and the discarded Water energy can be recovered with Aqua Patch.

I'm not sure on Machoke, but it does help with the mirror match to protect against snipe damage. You're going to have to add in Float Stones to make it worthwhile so it's not a Lysandre/Guzma target.

Also, Mallow would've been better if you have Octillery in there; otherwise, there's no point in getting the stacked cards off the bat since there's a risk of being N'd. Add in Field Blower too because it's a staple card.

 

[DKQuagmire]

Theres a pre-constructed theme deck that comes out when burning shadows becomes legal, which comes with an Alolan Ninetales which isn't a GX and has a great ability that prevents damage done to it by EX and GX pokemon. if you can squeeze this one into your deck, then you might have an answer to those ex/ gx cards you might be struggling with. though you never actually mentioned that, but its just a suggestion.