If your opponent is mostly using EX/GX Pokémon they can’t damage the card due to its power. Even if you’re up against a regular Pokémon the card isn’t super weak and can do 80 damage with its attack.
Help Viability of Alolan Ninetails deck?
- Thread starter Pat Stoddard
- Start date
To make a whole deck based around the baby A-Ninetales? that would make for some weird match-ups. The ability is super good, but as @CrownAxe has stated, most standard decks (SUM-TEU) will usually have a decent prize-one attacker. We have the following:
- PikaRom: TEU Zapdos, which OHKOs baby A-Ninetales with 1 Electropower.
- Zapdos / Jirachi: TEU Zapdos, same argument as above.
- Blacephalon / Naganadel: LOT Naganadel which can at least 2HKO A-Ninetales
- Ultra Necrozma / Malamar: LOT Giratina, which not only easily OHKOS A-Ninetales but doesn't have too much of a downside to it's attack.
- ZoroRoc: Well, actually nothing. The normal way to counter walls like Hoopa is to use Alolan Muk to lock the ability but since A-Ninetales is evolved, there's not much of an answer to it.
So that's still 4 out of 5 top tier decks in the current format that can easily handle the baby version of A-Ninetales. Even the GX counterparts also feel like tech options and/or outclassed by other recently released pokemon (LOT Alolan Ninetales-GX mostly for item searching, GUR Alolan Ninetales-GX in Decidueye decks purely for the first attack). So to me they're techs, not decks.
google Cawthon and a few other players piloted Alolan Ninetales w/ Vileplume as a sort of lock deck in Collinsville. Vileplume gives you PikaRom coverage (unless they have Jolteon) and Ninetales gives you Blacephalon and Zoroark coverage. Unfortunately, current LightningBox decks have all the tools they need to rip the deck apart. It was an interesting idea that capitalized on all the Basic Pokémon hype in Collinsville but doesn't look promising moving forward.