Discussion Ho-Oh-GX GX Uses (Standard)

Neurowolf

Neurowolf

Biology extraordinaire!
Member
Anyone make any good deck lists that use Ho-Oh-GX? I was wondering because I'm making an Incineroar-GX/Ho-Oh-GX deck and I want to see how many Ho-Oh-GX and Kiawe I should include. I also want to see what people are including to make sure they have all the right Pokémon discarded. Thanks in advance!

Screen Shot 2017-07-24 at 8.26.47 PM.png

Edit: Here is the decklist I just made, please feel free to suggest what should be taken out and put in. I know it's not really rotation friendly, but it will work for worlds. I'm thinking about adding one more Ho-Oh somehow, is it a good idea to have 4 Ho-Oh?


****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******


##Pokémon - 17


* 3 Ho-Oh-GX

* 3 Litten SUM 24

* 2 Torracat SUM 25

* 3 Incineroar-GX PR-SM SM38

* 2 Victini GRI 10

* 2 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60

* 2 Volcanion-EX STS 26


##Trainer Cards - 31


* 1 Brigette BKT 134

* 3 Kiawe

* 2 Wishful Baton

* 3 N FAC 105

* 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107

* 2 Guzma

* 4 VS Seeker PHF 109

* 3 Energy Retrieval SUM 116

* 3 Choice Band GRI 121

* 2 Field Blower GRI 125

* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135


##Energy - 12


* 12 Fire Energy 2


Total Cards - 60


****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
 
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All these great Pokemon meet in the upcomming Volcanion Ex deck if you ask me. Now it will not be extremely Ho-Oh focused but it's likely to include it to 'awnser' Water pokemon as it does not have the weakness typically found on a Fire Pokemon.

Now in general I dont think Ho-Oh GX is amazing but the biggest pro remains the quite unique weakness. Sacred Fire can be decent during the later stages of the game. Phoenix Burn is quite limited but a really high ammount of damage and to me the prime example why Kaiwe decks will/should run more as 1 Kaiwe all the time. Im currently thinking about using 3 in the upcomming format. However I'm even considering 4. Fully knowing that Tapu Lele GX can find them but the increased consistency of a turn 1 Kaiwe is what can make this deck break opponents really fast.
Lastly I don't like the GX attack too much, the format just offers better alternatives to that effect in the form of Supporters and Trainers.

All in all, Ho-Oh GX isn't too great but Kaiwe makes it an optional choice. If your looking to fill up the bench quickly I'd say Volcanion and Turtonator GX are better/faster.
 
I just recently pre-ordered 1 Ho-Oh GX that I had intended to incorporate into my Volcanion EX deck. I was attracted to this particular Pokémon for a few reasons:
  • It's a R-type Pokémon with 190 HP and that extra 10 HP can make a big difference at times.
  • Its Retreat Cost is only CC.
  • It has a L Pokémon (not too, too popular right now) attack Weakness and F Pokémon attack Resistance.
  • It's quite versatile in that its 1st attack can be used to inflict damage onto the Defending or the opponent's benched Pokémon.
  • The 2nd attack can be used to 1HKO many Pokémon; and, its 3rd attack is a unique way to recover key resources perhaps late game.
So, for now, I like this Pokémon; but this is still prior to some thorough play-testing.

What I'm now curious about is your deck strategy and related energy-attachment acceleration "engine." For example, were you planning to run some type of energy-attachment acceleration engine consisting of Max Elixir, Kiawe, Turtonator GX and/or other? If so, what and their respective card counts? If you plan to run Ho-Oh GX as your main attacker, do you also plan to run Turtonator GX, Volcanion EX and/or Volcanion? If so, how many of each and what other Pokémon do you plan to use, if any?

In summary, I like this new Pokémon because of its versatility as a tech. However, I now think (thanks to you) it may even have potential to be a main attacker with its own supporting cast... I'd be interested in knowing more about your testing results. Further, if you want to start discussing deck "shells" for initial testing, I'd be down with that too and would contribute my thoughts.
 
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Getting incineroar into the discard is kinda hard in standard.

It seems to me like the best Ho-oh GX deck would focus on using Kiawe turn 1, using Turtonator's GX attack to set up your other Ho-ohs once the first one goes down and/or using elixirs to set up a second ho-oh and using things like guzma/float/rope to switch between them, and using a combination of Volc EX, Choice band, Kukui, and maybe Po Town in order to make sure that you can one-shot basically every single relevant pokemon.
 
Xeynid said:
Getting incineroar into the discard is kinda hard in standard.

It seems to me like the best Ho-oh GX deck would focus on using Kiawe turn 1, using Turtonator's GX attack to set up your other Ho-ohs once the first one goes down and/or using elixirs to set up a second ho-oh and using things like guzma/float/rope to switch between them, and using a combination of Volc EX, Choice band, Kukui, and maybe Po Town in order to make sure that you can one-shot basically every single relevant pokemon.
Click to expand...
This is how Volcanian should evolve. You basically play the deck like SogaleoGX/Rayquaza. You punch things really hard for the OHKO with Ho-oh, then recover when needed with Turtonator. You want to win the coin toss and go second almost every time because Ho-Oh GX+Kaiwe is just too good. You get an early prize lead, focus on building a Turtonator up for its GX attack, use Scorched Earth for energy dump and speed, then Turt GX, and punch two more things with Ho-oh. I think its better than Volca, and you shouldn't use more than one Volcanian EX in here. You only ever want the second Volcanian for Gardevoir, but Kukui would be better.
 
You can't attack the same turn you Kiawe, so you're going to want to go first every game. Use kiawe during a turn where you can't attack anyways, then attack turn 2.
 
Xeynid said:
You can't attack the same turn you Kiawe, so you're going to want to go first every game. Use kiawe during a turn where you can't attack anyways, then attack turn 2.
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Ah, over looked that. So yeah, going first would be best, and it would give you time for more set-up anyways. so i definitly believe the deck is the best fire deck. Ho-oh/Turt > Volcanian
 
TheDude133 said:
This is how Volcanian should evolve. You basically play the deck like SogaleoGX/Rayquaza. You punch things really hard for the OHKO with Ho-oh, then recover when needed with Turtonator. You want to win the coin toss and go second almost every time because Ho-Oh GX+Kaiwe is just too good. You get an early prize lead, focus on building a Turtonator up for its GX attack, use Scorched Earth for energy dump and speed, then Turt GX, and punch two more things with Ho-oh. I think its better than Volca, and you shouldn't use more than one Volcanian EX in here. You only ever want the second Volcanian for Gardevoir, but Kukui would be better.
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Wait, shouldn't you go first because Kaiwe ends your turn?
 
Yes, IMO. I plan to start testing a 4 Ultra Ball, 2-3 Tapu Lele GX and 2-3 Kiawe engine this week in order to play a Kiawe T1.
 
I found the best use of a Ho-Oh is to just cook it. What you do is find a Ho-Oh that isn't doing much with its life and cull it. You'll get about 300 pounds of meat from it when everything is all said and done. One of my favorite things to do is shove other birds into it as well since it's big enough. Get yourself a Zapdos and shove that into a Pidgeot, then shove that into a Articuno and shove that into a Moltres and then shove that into the Ho-Oh, making sure to stuff it with your favorite fillings. Kiawe is important too! He knows how to cook! And he can breath fire, right?

Here's what that list looks like

Pokemon- 14

1 Ho-Oh-GX
1 Pidgeot-EX
1 Articuno-EX
1 Zapdos- EX
1 Moltres- EX
4 Oricorio (one of each style)
4 Cherubi
1 Grumpig

Trainers- 31

1 Professor Sycamore
1 Pokemon Fan Club
1 Professor Kukui
1 Professor Oak Hint
1 Professor Birch's Observations
4 Team Rocket's Handiwork
1 Mallow
4 Rival Draw
1 Kaiwe
1 Giovanni's Schemes

4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Captivating PokePuff
4 Big Malasada
1 Professor's Letter
1 Town Map

1 Po Town

Energy- 15

15 Fire Energy

This should be a good of Ho-Oh for Standard. We can make it taste better in Expanded though! Anyone else hungry?
 
crystal_pidgeot said:
I found the best use of a Ho-Oh is to just cook it. What you do is find a Ho-Oh that isn't doing much with its life and cull it. You'll get about 300 pounds of meat from it when everything is all said and done. One of my favorite things to do is shove other birds into it as well since it's big enough. Get yourself a Zapdos and shove that into a Pidgeot, then shove that into a Articuno and shove that into a Moltres and then shove that into the Ho-Oh, making sure to stuff it with your favorite fillings. Kiawe is important too! He knows how to cook! And he can breath fire, right?

Here's what that list looks like

Pokemon- 14

1 Ho-Oh-GX
1 Pidgeot-EX
1 Articuno-EX
1 Zapdos- EX
1 Moltres- EX
4 Oricorio (one of each style)
4 Cherubi
1 Grumpig

Trainers- 31

1 Professor Sycamore
1 Pokemon Fan Club
1 Professor Kukui
1 Professor Oak Hint
1 Professor Birch's Observations
4 Team Rocket's Handiwork
1 Mallow
4 Rival Draw
1 Kaiwe
1 Giovanni's Schemes

4 Pokemon Catcher
4 Captivating PokePuff
4 Big Malasada
1 Professor's Letter
1 Town Map

1 Po Town

Energy- 15

15 Fire Energy

This should be a good of Ho-Oh for Standard. We can make it taste better in Expanded though! Anyone else hungry?
Click to expand...
I found that you can take the extra Ho-Oh feathers and arrange them around the dish to give it a nice presentation.
 
Yeah I'm vacillating on Ho-Oh. I mean, a couple of steam ups and he one shots everything, right? And Kiawe can power him up potentially on turn 1 so he could attack turn 2. Then you retreat him, promote Baby Volc, get the two energy back on him and OHKO whatever KO'd Baby Volc and you've taken at least 3 if not 4 prize cards to your opponent's 1.
But I just don't know how realistic that is, I don't know if you can consistently pull that off. Plus, a Ho-Oh GX with 4 energy on it is OHKO'd by a Gardy GX with only two energy.
But then I think - wait - put a wishful baton on a Ho-Oh GX on the bench and after your first Ho-Oh is KO'd, you KO Gardy, or at least put a big hit on it.

Too much Theorymon!
 
The thing with wishful baton is once ppl start playing that then everyone is gnna play 3 field bowers and make wishful baton less impactful on the game. Relying on wishful baton might be a bit risky.
 
Ho-Oh's GX move cheats the evolution rule by putting onto bench any fire-type, including evolved ones. So M Charizard-EX and/or Incineroar-GX becomes viable w/ Ho-Oh to put them in... :)
 
cardgjammer said:
Ho-Oh's GX move cheats the evolution rule by putting onto bench any fire-type, including evolved ones. So M Charizard-EX and/or Incineroar-GX becomes viable w/ Ho-Oh to put them in... :)
Click to expand...
"Viable" The cards are still bad. It's not the evolution that makes the bad, its the attacks.
 
In expanded with battle compressor, MAYBE.

In standard, not only do we not have compressor, meaning it's really hard to get inceneroar or M char into the discard, we're also losing sky field, which means that incineroar is only going to be hitting for 110, which fails to get an ohko unless you have a band and two steam ups.

None of the Mchars are that good, either. Evolutions M Char can one-shot something, but it only has 170 hp, effectively, which means it's weaker than ho-oh, who can one shot for 1 fewer energy and has more hp and is faster to set up. Generations m char hits for 200 on average, which is decent, but you have to consider whether that decent-ness is worth how difficult it will be to actually get it on the board, since you need to attach 3 to ho-oh, use its gx attack, then attach 4 to the charizard. With Kiawe, that's POSSIBLE, but why not just kiawe 4 energy onto your ho-oh and hit 180 and call it a day?

In expanded, I can totally see incineroar being a viable option, since he's a 250 hp pokemon that can hit for 170 and abuse max potion, but in standard, I just don't really see it. There aren't any options worth how troublesome the setup is.
 
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