Dragonite EX / Virizion EX

[2797jake]

Pokemon:

• 
  4 Dragonite EX
  3 Virizion EX
  1-1 Beartic(FUF)
  3-3 Altaria(Fight Song Ability)
  1 Dedenne(FUF)

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

• 
  4 N
  3 Skyla
  3 Juniper
  2 Cassius
  1 Colress
  
  2 Skates
  4 Muscle Band
  1 Pal Pad
  3 Super Scoop Up
  1 Scoop Up Cyclone
  2 Switch
  2 Megaphone
  2 Pokemon Catcher
  1 Professor’s Letter
  1 Ultra Ball

Energy:

• 
  4 Electric
  8 Grass

Strategy:
Virizion to accelerate energy and lower the odds of Dragonite EX being 1HKOed with LaserBank. Beartic as a Pyroar counter. With 2 Altaria down and a Muscle Band Dragonite EX can 1HKO anything but a mega. When Dragonite EX is damaged scoop him back up and play another one.

 

[José Barbosa]

Why not Abomasnow? If has darkrai, fairy garden or float stone on the defending Pokémon, it only will take 20 dmg [40 on pyroar; 80 with muscle].

 

[Dappers]

Pretty interesting idea! Dragonite's ability really allows you to get surprise KOs.

My two concerns with your set are:

Beartic FUF: He's actually a pretty decent pyroar counter, his first attack can KO pyroar without any boost. However, a 1-1 line isn't going to fight off a Pyroar deck, most Pyroar variants run at least 3-3 Pyroar and your single beartic won't keep up. Also, what if Cubchoo or Beartic are prized?
Ultra Ball: You don't really have a way to search for your Pokemon other than the one Dedenne with Entrainment. Normal deck lists run 3-4 Ultra Balls simply because they are just so helpful in finding the right Pokemon while also discarding possibly non-useful cards (like Beartic/Cubchoo if you aren't facing a Pyroar deck!)

-1 Muscle Band
-2 Skates
+3 Ultra Ball

-1 Dragonite
-1 Dedenne
+1-1 Beartic? I'm not 100% but if your goal is to keep Dragonite safe by putting him back into your deck/hand constantly I doubt you'll need 4

 

[GhostMaster365]

When Phantom Gate comes out, one of the new supporters is AZ. AZ allows you to take one of your Pokemon and put it back into your hand. I think that would be perfect for Dragonite. And if you had palpad you would be able to do it a lot.

 

[bwpple]

AZ is a cool idea, but it is a supporter and you would have to discard all the cards attached to your dragonite.
You would have to discard all your work in order to heal dragonite: Not worth it really.

 

[SGGPatrickJ]

AZ is a cool idea, but it is a supporter and you would have to discard all the cards attached to your dragonite.
You would have to discard all your work in order to heal dragonite: Not worth it really.

Well actually you would in theory only be losing at most a muscle band with AZ. The plan is to cycle in a fresh dragonite when one gets hurt. You bench the new one move all of the energy off of the damaged one onto the new one and switch the new one to the active slot. Now you have a damaged dragonite on your bench with no energy on it and at most a muscle band. If you play AZ that dragonite is back in your hand so you can once again cycle your dragonites without the need to search your deck for another dragonite. Losing the muscle band sucks but if you're playing smart that is all you should lose with AZ.

Also on the Beartic situation I would suggest running the PLB abomasnow over beartic. Both of them require a muscle band to KO pyroar but I feel like abomasnow has more versatility. Beartic is limited to its first attack which isnt always that strong while abomasnow has access to both attacks and hitting for 100 plus confusion when you have a muscle band on him is not a bad 3 energy attack. Also since you play virizion he doesn't confuse himself. He also KO's landorus the same as Beartic would, just 1 energy cost more which i think is worth it for the versatility.

 

[Bumbleblogn]

why not keep genesect in the deck also, starting the deck up like its a normal vigen deck. then, when your genesect has taken alot of damage, switch to dragonite, avoiding the KO, and instantly get another heavy attacking pokemon.