Discussion Ninja Boy Deck Ideas...But Which One!?

thevegasbomb

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Ninja Boy has caught my eye and as an x trevenant player soon to be, i have had to think of something else.
I have come up with about 3 different deck ideas that all revolve around ninja boy.

1st option: dark box
4 darkrai (2 abysal sleep/2 ex)
4 yveltal (3 oblivion wing/1 fright night)
2 yveltal break
2 shaymin ex
1-2 jirachi
1-2 spiritomb

2nd option: anti meta
3 jolteon
3 glacion
2 mew
2/2 garbador
2 jirachi
2 shaymin ex

3rd option: psychic
4 hoopa (steam siege)
3 mewtwo (damage change)
3 wobbuffet (bide barracade)
2 jirachi
2 shaymin
2 mew?
(not sure what else could be viable...just really liked the idea of mewtwo and wobbuffet)


most of the trainer line ups are around the same so i will just leave them out unless asked about..have not composed a full list yet for either of these deck..so i need help..you know now what paths i want to take :)
thought/advise/opinions welcome
thank you for your time
 
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I was thinking about Fire being pretty cool. Run stuff like Volcanion, Volcanion-EX, Entei, and Flareon, then just be able to switch into whatever you want. It would be really cool because a common issue Fire has is starting with the wrong Pokemon, which basically all of their Pokemon aren't optimal starters except Volcanion. You can then basically play the deck like Mega Ray, spamming the Bench full of Support Pokemon, and attacking for big damage.
 
That sounds awesome actually! great idea, you going to use ninja boy?..
And in your honest opinion, which deck should I invest in?..
 
I don't think so, I don't really like Fire with Garbodor being a thing. The other decks are cool, but I don't have the money to drop on 3-4 Shaymins so I can effectively use Ninja Boy.

Tbh, I don't think any deck is standing out to be the best. Every deck has massive flaws, so your goal is just to mitigate the flaws. I will mainly focus on the flaws for the sake of time, but all of these decks have positives, for example, Mega Sceptile is one of the hardest decks to take prizes from and even when you do it recovers quickly.

Mega Sceptile- Low damage, Cloggy hands, and having a decent non-EX attacker.

Mega Ray- The deck that everyone is trying to counter so you are going to have to constantly deal with Parallel City and Zoroark, which you can play through, but I don't want to play the deck that everyone has a target on.

Primal Groudon- So easy just to out play this deck, the energy investment is way too high which leads to over investment onto one Primal Groudon.

Mega Steelix- Honestly, this deck seemed really bad, like pure awful but, I have noticed how effective just soaking up damage with Shield Energy, and hitting hard with Strong Energy is. Still, prone to bricking hard, and you can't wall behind Carbink because of Garbodor.

Volcanion- So many rough starts with this deck, very prone to just "Failure to Launch," type of losses. With Garbodor this deck just loses against anything that isn't Sceptile.

Mega Mewtwo- One of the more simple decks to play, and super easy to counter play against. Decks that have low energy attacks (Mega Sceptile), can just make the Mega Mewtwo player over extend and then get punished. This deck is definitely one that stifles creativity due to it punishment of using Abilities and high Energy attacks.

Darkrai Giratina- Arguably one of the strongest T1/T2 decks with the ability to easily deal 100+ damage. However, with Garbodor you can't wall behind Giratina for long, and Mega Mewtwo can just punish your Giratina. Also, the deck has a lot of variation in how good it can open so you can't get consistent results.

Zygarde- One of my more liked decks, I think it has a lot of potential but again, cards like Garbodor can just ruin your day. The deck also loses some cool stuff from rotation like AZ which isn't too big, but still an issue.

Yveltal Garbodor- Mega Mewtwo will ruin this deck, so I would say no.

As you can see, all decks that have a possibility of being good are flawed. Pick which one you don't mind the flaw in, or you think you can mitigate, and play it. I personally think Mega Sceptile is really good, you can play under Garbodor, take hits from Rayquaza, and out grind any other deck. For me, I can make a more consistent version of Mega Sceptile, add Giovanni's Scheme to get more damage, and add Lugia from Fates Collide, this doesn't fix the flaws, but it does aid them. The biggest thing is just test, test, and test, find the flaws in the deck, look at the card pool to see what you can do about it, and do something about it.

Edit: If you have an issue of what to invest in, just invest in something flexible. For example, if you buy Darkrai Giratina for lets say $230 and you play the deck and you want to change into a Yveltal deck, then you already have a lot of the basic components, you just have to spend maybe an extra $50 to build the Yveltal variant you want to play. The big cost cards are going to be staples like Max Elixir, Fighting Fury Belt, VS Seeker, Shaymin-EX, and Trainers' Mail, after that you probably won't spend more than $60 to complete a deck.
 
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Why do these decks revolve around Ninja Boy?

They don't have to, but to make the most use out of them, I personally would revolve them around Ninja Boy. For example, Trevenant can still be strong even if you don't open up with the turn 1 Wally into Trevenant, but it is super strong to Wally into Trevenant turn 1. You also begin building a deck differently if you are going to amplify the use of a card. If I want to use Max Elixir in a deck then I will mainly focus on having really strong basic Pokemon that can shift between being active and benched quickly.
 
A lot of decks can benefit from Ninja Boy since he can turn a Shaymin Ex into a useful attacker and in toolbox decks it enables the deck to switch into a more suited attacker without vasting energies or energy attachments. It is also great in fast Mega evolution decks that run two Shaymin Ex and Hoopa Ex to set them up. Ninja Boy is one of the best cards from Steam Siege.
 
A lot of decks can benefit from Ninja Boy since he can turn a Shaymin Ex into a useful attacker and in toolbox decks it enables the deck to switch into a more suited attacker without vasting energies or energy attachments. It is also great in fast Mega evolution decks that run two Shaymin Ex and Hoopa Ex to set them up. Ninja Boy is one of the best cards from Steam Siege.
I have no doubt that Ninja Boy is a great card, I just don't see these lists as making the most possible use of it. Besides the Mewtwo-Wobbufett, which is not competitively viable at all, the lists don't revolve around Ninja Boy.
 
I would really consider running 1 Umbreon from Fates Collide in the dark deck if you are going to run Ninja Boy. You can boost the 70 damage up to 90 with fighting fury belt and Reverse Valley. With all the spread damage from Fright Night Yveltal and Yveltal Break, as well as Darkrai EX's flexible Damage it isn't to unrealistic to get a Mega EX down to 70-90 health left. Even if you only pull it off 1 out 4 games or so it's might be worth it. The first attack isn't that bad either in case you start with it.
 
I've been working on ideas for a ninja boy anti-meta deck that tries to cover a lot of weaknesses. The main goal is to take two turns per pokemon to power up with one rainbow and one DCE, then switch into whatever floats your boat if necessary. I'll focus on mostly the pokemon but here are some counts I was thinking of for now:

Energy:
4 DCE
4 Rainbow
1-2 Lightning/Water

Trainers:
1-2 Special Charge
1 Karen when it comes out
1-2 Super Rod
2-3 Ninja Boy
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Float Stone if playing Garbodor

Pokemon:
2 Jolteon-EX/2 Glaceon-EX/1 Regice: The main core of the deck, their job is to counter whatever the opposing deck is focused on attacking with. Regice is nice as the only non-ex attacker that could force the opponent to take 7 prizes.

1 Machamp-EX: For one colorless and one fighting (rainbow+DCE, as with most attacks), you can ninja boy into machamp if you have a basic with a lot of damage on it to OHKO something.

1 Umbreon-EX: Not bad to start with but mainly here due to several megas seeing play. A DCC attack does 70 + lets you take 4 prizes for KOing a mega.

1 Magearna-EX: I think this is mandatory as it provides protection with its ability and also serves to OHKO anything weak to metal for MCC energy.

1 Diancie-EX: YCC attack does 60 + 60 if a stadium is in play. This serves purely to OHKO Giratina, which is seeing a lot of play lately.

1 Lugia-EX/1 Yveltal-EX could also be useful to hit for heavy damage on an opposing pokemon with a lot of energy attached. Yveltal does 20 extra damage, but requires a rainbow energy to be attached. I'd probably pick one of the two and leaning towards Lugia so we have at least one card that can attack for just one DCE.

Right now I'm thinking this would work best as an anti-meta deck, running a 2-2 Garbodor line plus hammers. What do you guys think?
 
This seems really interesting. I'm not sure about Garbodor though since you are already running so many different pokemon, I think it might hurt consistency to much. Garbodor also works against the Magearna and Diancie abilties. I also think it might be worth running 2 Magearna in this case since it hits for steal weakness and it's ability is a must for the M Mewtwo matchup since this deck doesn't hit hard enough to OHKO it. I would be wary of Pokemon Ranger and Lysandre since they both effectively cancel the effects of 2 Jolteon EX/2 Glaceon EX/1 Regice core.
 
Yeah I actually think you're right about Garbodor, especially if a lot of decks start running Garb. Could run 2 Hex instead as I feel that shutting down abilities will be important and a great turn 1.

Is the metal weakness that important? I've only ever played online but plan on getting into the live scene soon. It would just affect Xerneas + FFB and M Gardevoir right?

Other mostly non-ex ideas I had were, in no particular order. Don't know the set names for most as I'm relatively new:

Glalie-EX - WCC - 50 + 100 if same hand size as opponent. Only if Volcanion gets big probably but it might be good regardless just for the opportunity to hit for 150 whenever possible.
Zygarde - FCC - 70 + Dark and fairy defending pokemon cant attack. Probably too easy to get out of though.
Sudowoodo - FC - copies opposing active's last attack
Regirock - FCC - 60 + 60 against EX
Meloetta - FCC - 60 + 50 if psychic energy is attached. Don't think this is relevant unless M Audino or another fighting weakness somehow gets popular in this format.
Registeel - MCC - 70 + discard an energy attacked to opposing EX
Wobbuffet - PC - 10 + 10 per damage counter
Last but possibly most interesting- BKT Xerneas, with rainbow force! Could be better than Diancie EX simply due to the prize differential.
 
I don't think the metal weakness is the main reason to run Magearna, it's just really nice since they're 3 decks that are all pretty hyped with metal weakness (rainbow road Xerneas, Xerneas BREAK/Giratina, and M Gardy). Magearna just seems really helpful if not necessary in the M Mewtwo match up. Being able to OHKO any fairy pokemon with the first hit and deal 120 (130 with FFB) after that still OHKO both Geomancy (with FFB) and Rainbow Force Xerneas unless they have a FFB makes me think it warrants a 2nd copy.

*FFB = Fighting Fury Belt

I think most of the cards you listed are viable options, it really depends on your local meta. Sudowoodo, Glalie, and Regirock don't look that good here though. Sudowoodo can be either great, or useless depending on the opponents pokemon, and I personally don't like having to rely on my opponent for my attacks. Glalie has a very specific condition for his attack that would take a specific draw engine to pull off, and you already have Regice and Glaceon hitting for water weakness. Regirock doesn't make sense when you are already running Regice to wall EX's, and Regirock won't OHKO anything except some dark types even if they are EX, so why not just wall them instead. I would consider Mew from FCO. It's ability lets it use the attack of any basic you have in play as long it has the energy for it. This is a nice way using a strong move while hitting for psychic weakness or keeping an EX on the bench. Mew only has 50 HP but, if you KO an EX with it while keeping your EX safe, you are winning the prize exchange while also conserving resource (the energy and tools on the EX pokemon). Finally, since this deck revolves around rainbow energy so much, consider running Fairy Garden as your stadium or a Manphy EX for the free retreat. I like Manaphy because Jolteon EX already has free retreat, and Regice and Glaceon EX are water types, but it is a low HP EX sitting on the bench so Fairy Garden might be better.

I would try and find out what your local meta is and build according to that. Take the top two or three decks in your meta, and build the core around them (Glaceon/Jolteon,Regice will probably be pretty good). From there, build the draw and search engine and the energies. Once you have the core pokemon and trainer cards that you NEED, look into the one\two off techs like Magerna, Hexmaniac, Umbreon EX, Xerneas ect. Make sure that every card has a purpose and try to minimize or eliminate the cards that are only helpful in one matchup or scenario, but are dead draw the rest of the time. For example, Umbreon EX can be a great comeback card or finishing card if you play against decks with mega's most of the time and can consistently get the energy you need and the Ninja Boy at the right time; but if you can't, or you don't play against Megas often, then it isn't serving it's purpose and is dead draw most of the time.

Hope some if this helps. Let me know how this goes.
 
Ike and Robin - thanks for the advice. I think you're right on the money with a lot of it, especially building this around the local meta. That's really the main goal of the deck-all of the cards I listed are just possibilities depending on how the format shakes out. For instance, I've been seeing a lot of Darkrai/Giratina online, which is why I thought Regirock might be an option just for that OHKO potential.

I think the real issue with this deck will be finding ways to power up an attacker every two turns while also keeping the supporter open to use ninja boy. Not sure as I can't test this out online yet.

Also-I think Mew is probably very important with M Mewtwo in the format, good call. I'll post back here once I get the chance to try all of this out for myself.
 
I've been working on ideas for a ninja boy anti-meta deck that tries to cover a lot of weaknesses. The main goal is to take two turns per pokemon to power up with one rainbow and one DCE, then switch into whatever floats your boat if necessary. I'll focus on mostly the pokemon but here are some counts I was thinking of for now:

it's pretty hard to make an anti-meta deck when the meta is so unclear, and extremely diverse. It's not like Nats/World's where you knew to expect NM/Trev/Vespivile/Frogs and pretty much nothing else.
 
For your dark toolbox, run 1 Umbreon EX (FAC) and possibly take 4 prizes instead of 2 when using Ninja Boy on a Yveltal, Darkrai or some power hitter.
 
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