Back with a Vengeance! (HGSS-EP)

James

Team Rocket Member for crazy ideas...!
Member
First off, I'd like to state this deck is for fun purposes only, like a league or a special type of format tournament or something like that.

With that out of the way, here's my idea:

16-honchkrow.jpg


Honchkrow UD #16 always seemed as a rubbish card to me, but lately when trying to come up with a rogue deck he caught my eye. After some playtesting and whatnot, it became clear to me Honchkrow falls short on being competitive; but it is a fun deck to play either way. It requires some practise, and even some luck, but Honchkrow can actually be quite fun to play. Let's take a look at the decklist I came up with.

Pokémon: (25)

3x Honchkrow UD #16
4x Murkrow UD #59 (The #58 Murkrow can be used as well for it's 1st attack, but it has 10 less HP, which could matter in the long run.)

3x Weavile UD
3x Sneasel UD

2x Zoroark BW
2x Zorua BW (Of course you could include the other Zorua EP, but as with Murkrow the other version boasts 10 less HP, which could matter!)

2x Mandibuzz BW
2x Vullaby EP (Altough the other one, Vullaby BW, is good too, I personally like to combine the EP's Rear Guard along it's resistance to stall enough against Donphan, should it be needed.)

2x Electrode Prime
2x Voltorb TR

Supporters, Stadiums, Trainers: (23)

4x Professor Juniper
3x Sage's Training
2x Twins
1x Flower Shop Lady

4x Junk Arm
3x Research Record
3x Pokémon Communication
2x Pokémon Catcher
1x Revive

Energy: (12)

4x Sp. Darkness Energy
4x Darkness Energy
4x Double Colourless Energy

I know the decklist isn't ideal, but keep in mind it's a deck that's just for fun. The strategy is to simply get as many {D} type Pokémon in your discard as fast as possible, and start using Vengeance for as much damage as possible, as fast as possible. Other cards are there to help you with certain matchups, and provide the deck with different battle options.

Just for your help, I'll explain what each card does in the deck:

Pokémon:

Honchkrow UD #16 is of course our chosen main attacker. While nothing extremely spectaiculair, Honchkrow can manage it's own against the likes of Donphan for 3 turns, and it quicklky succumbs to stuff like Zekrom, Thundurus, and Pachirisu for example. It's quite ''heavy'' at 2 Retreat, but the goal is to let him out there until he bites the dust anyways(it'll only help in the end!).

Shadow Bind is nothing too impressive either, doing between 30 and 70 damage (counting in Sp. Dark), and locking the opponent's active pokémon in the active slot for their next turn (cards like switch still help, as does evolving/devolving it, etc) at the price of {D}{C}. Not extremely bad, but by far not decent either. Let's quickly move on.

Vengeance is the reason we chose Honchkrow in the first place as out main attacker. For {D}{C}{C} Honchkrow hits for an amazing 10 to 50 damage (counting Sp. Dark)! I know this might not sound amazing at all, but that's still the goal this deck relies on. The reason for this is simply because we'll be trying to get our Discard Pile full of {D} Ttype pokémon in no time, beefing this attack's damage up to a maximum of 230 damage in this deck! (of course this is the ''best case scenario'' with this attack, and you'll probably won't be using that until you're down to just 1 Honchkrow left with all 4 Sp. Dark attached and ALL your other {D} pokémon being in the discard, but still!) We're back with a Vengeance!

Murkrow UD #59 Is our main starter, and nothing impressive either I'm afraid... It's just there to evolve into our Honchkrow, and this one has 70 HP; granting it at least one turn of survival hopefully. As mentioned, Murkrow UD #58 is another option which you might use for it's attack, but keep in mind it has 10 less HP, meaning it is more easlier donked.

Weavile UD is there like a ''share the pain'' card; you'll be discarding heavily from both your hand and deck, so why not let your opponent discard some stuff too? At 80 HP Weavile is quite fragile for a stage 1, but he's mainly included for it's effect anyways. Like most {D} pokémon, Weavile hates the likes of Donphan, and almost immediately leaves the table when facing any decent stage 1 {F} type. It can withstand a few more hits from Psychic types, but they usually don't do solid damage either way because they usually have effects or simply place damage counters (and if they do solid damage, they will KO Weavile 8 out of 10 times anyways). Free Retreat means Weavile can always be an effective ''switch in'' in whatever situation. His attack isn't anything special, but provides a decent 30 snipe option for just {D}{C}. This can be hefty in some cases to pay, but it KO's babies and provides some softening on you opponent's pokémon for your other pokémon. And of course, when Weavile hits the discard, your Vengeance will be even better!

Sneasel UD is just like Murkrow as we have seen previously; it's mainly there to evolve into Weavile. 60 HP is pretty standard for a basic, but it's free retreat makes up for that. It's also quite nice Sneasel could be a ''last resort'' for it's Beat Up attack, which is almost legendary in the history of the pokémon TCG. For {D}{D} you can do damage varying from 0 to 140, so some opponents may be afraid of it. Use this to your advantage, but keep in mind Sneasel's Beat Up isn't reliable, and not as powerful as in the unlimited format!

Zoroark BW is a nice little tech for various decks, and this one is no exception. For {C}{C} you can use Foul Play to copy any opponent's attack! You must still do anything possible that is required in order to use the copied attack, but anything you can't do is just ''ignored''. Smack back those dragons for 120 damage, for just one Double Colourless Energy! Mass attack against Jumpluff, or snipe around that Blastoise, the possibillities are endless! Foul Play is a great way to take a Vengeance (sorry for the pun), and Zoroarks 100 HP and one retreat are decent enough for a stage 1. Zoroark also dislikes cards like Donphan due to it's weakness, and cares less for {P} types. Nasty plot is there in dire needs, but the focus of Zoroark should be Foul Play. You could aslo include the Zoroark from EP as a tech, but I prefer not to. Did you also notice how it fuels our Vengeance attack as well, after going down?

Zorua BW is like Murkrow and Sneasel; to get out it's evolution. A decent 60 HP, along with a {F} weakness, a {P} -20 resistance, and 1 Retreat make a decent basic at best. Zorua EP is an option too, but sports 10 less HP than the BW version.

Mandibuzz BW Is just a back up attacker, and is mainly used in combination with Weavile's Feint Attack. 90 HP is decent enough when combined with the {F} resistance, and 1 Retreat is okay. Like Honchkrow this birdy doesn't like stuff like Zekrom, Thundurus, or Pachirisu. For one {D} energy Mandibuzz can snipe any target for 50 damage; but the catch is they will be required to have at least one damage counter on them. For {D}{C}{C} Mandibuzz hits for an unimpressive 40 to 80 damage (counting in Sp. Dark), but once again this damage can be boosted. Instead of meeting requirements on your own, the requirement to bump the damage from 40/80 to 100/140 is to use the attack on a stage 2 evolved pokémon. As stated, Mandibuzz is nothing more than a tech for certain matchups, and can adapt different roles in different matchups. While some of you might also consider including Mandibuzz EP, I find it's first attack unreliable, and it's second attack unusable due to this deck's low energy count. Try out what works for you, and know that whatever you choose will still help you with our Vengeance...!

Vullaby EP is my Vullaby of choice, and I know I'd rather have basics with more HP over their other counterparts, but this Vullaby is an exception to this. Mainly because of it's attack Rear Guard, Vullaby can be a real pest to certain {F} type pokémon, and early game Vullaby while be immume to most damage, unless it's from a {L} type smacking for at least 20 damage. Gust is nothing special, as a ''vanilla 2 for 20 damage'' attack, and the 50 HP is just horrible in general. It shares the same bottom stats as our other birdies, so no real problems here. But as mentioned earlier, you might prefer Vullaby BW, mainly for it's 10 extra HP I guess, but with the same bottom stats and an unreliable attack I personally find it inferior to the version EP gave us.

Electrode Prime is the only non-{D} type we've included in our deck (along with it's evo line, of course), and he's mainly here for one reason: Energymite. It has a decent 90 HP, an okay 1 Retreat, it hates cards like Donphan, and laughs even harder at cards like Steelix and Scizor prime (that don't see play anyways at the moment). It also boasts the attack Gigashock that does 30 damage and 10 snipe on two of your opponent's benched pokémon for {L}{C} (not so ''Giga'' if you ask me...?). However, all these facts don't really matter, as once you've played Electrode prime, expect it to go ''BOOM!'' anyways. It'll KO itself in the process, giving you a one prize penalty against your opponent, all of which is not good at all...

The bonuses here are quite great for this deck though; You get to use your Twins without having to wait for your opponent to KO something you have, you get energy acceleration, ánd you get to throw everything else to the discard pile...! While the discarding part might not sounds so good, and while the Twins usage isn't always extremely wanted, the ''trade in'' of this card really makes this deck even playable; imagine you just used a Research Record on your deck, placing a few energy an Pokémon on top, and shuffling the rest back to the bottom of the deck. Electrode goes ''BOOM!'' and fuels your Vengeance attack as well as helping you build up your attackers. A strategic key point, Electrode beats as the heart of this deck, and you really can't do without it. Just time the ''BOOM!'' right...!''

Voltorb TR is one of the worst cards in the entire list, and if I didn't have to, I wouldn't run it to begin with... However, our 40 HP, {F} x2, {M}-20, and 1 Retreat having friend is needed to get out our Electrodes out in the first place. Magnetic Bomb is nothing to write home about either, and I'd rather write to the card designers that I'd rather have another Voltorb to work with, but this is what we get folks. Just hope it won't get donked, and that you don't get too much lone Voltorb starts to begin with!

TSS:

Professor Juniper helps you in the same way Electrode does, only instead of thinning your deck, it discards your entire hand to net you a fresh 7. She doesn't help with energy either, but at least you can control what you discard when using her. Getting a fresh hand out of 7 after fueling the discard with some {D} Pokémon along with some other (useless) cards has never felt so good!

Sage's Training is best used to get some cards at critical moments, and you just can't seem to dig them out of your deck. And even if the Sage doesn't manage to train you enough to get the result you actually wanted, a shallow piece of hope is that you at least hopefully managed to discard some {D} Pokémon, as well as that you got the best 2 cards out of your random top 5 anyways?

Twins is quite a cute card, isn't it? I think it is, and it's effect is nothing to scoff at; select any two cards from your deck and take them! The drawback is that you have to be behind in prizes to use it, but that's reasonable I guess. Besides, did anyone here think ''Electrode (Prime)'' or ''Energymite''? Indeed, you should. Besides, the more KO's you got on your field, the stronger your attacker will be anyways, so why not take double the advantage of some early game KO's?

The single Flower Shop Lady in this deck is actually more of an tech, but it can be quite helpful in some situations where you might find yourself in more often than not, while you didn't even expect it... While Electrode loves it when you mill those energies with him, Prof. Juniper has a different plan on that... And with our deck's heavy pokémon discarding in general, recycling some stuff is never a bad option, or so I think! Besides, how would you otherwise recycle Electrode(s) and/or Honchkrow(s)?

Junk Arm's presence in this deck is quite heavy, and not without reason; not only does it help you recycle some important Trainer/Goods cards, it also enables you to discard some unwanted {D} Pokémon from your hand as well, helping you in multiple ways!

''Knowledge is power'', someone once said, and that certainly is the idea behind Research Record in this deck. Everyone would be wise to use one (or more!) before popping an Electrode, or letting the Sage have a go at it. Despite it's crucial role, no more than 3 are needed thanks to Junk Arm's heavy presence in the deck.

Pokémon Communication is a blessing in this deck, as with the many different Pokémon lines in this deck, getting out the right one can be quite a challange... Communication just shuffles back those ''extra'' Pokémon right back into the deck, and enables you to fetch whatever you actually need. As with Research Record, no more than 3 are needed thanks to Junk Arm's heavy presence in the deck, despite Communications crucial role.

Pokémon Catcher is almost mandatory in most decks now anyways, and it has the same reason for being here as in any other deck; drag something up front and annoy your opponent by trapping it there or KO'ing it. Easy as that, right?

A lone Revive finishes the Trainers/Goods line-up in the list, and is mainly used to get back something that was accidentally dropped into the discard, or that is simply needed recycled asap. A single Revive won't make all that much difference, I know, but combined with a heavy Junk Arm line you could use Revive quite a few times to your advantage...!

Energy:

Sp. Darkness Energy is just there to provide the energy for some attacks, as well as providing an everlasting built in Plus Power. The only downsides to it is that it can't be recycled or searched out of the deck (with the exception of Twins for searching it out with this list).

Darkness Energy is the basic energy ALL of your attacking Pokémon use, should I say more..?

Double Colourless Energy helps out all of your main attackers (except for Weavile of course), so why not use it...?

Well then, I won't be including matchups since this ''article'' isn't focussed on competitive play anyways, but if you guys want I could flesh out some more details about the deck, as well as some more techs.

Please share your opinions on the deck idea, and if you liked the idea or not...! Thanks for reading!
 
BUMP

Does no one has anything to say about this deck idea...?
 
It's an ok Deck. You just need to watch out for the donphan an dragon match ups. since they cover both of your weaknesses. Just play it smart.
 
Those energy symbols are really distracting to the article, just sayin'. I would highly recommend not using Electrode, giving your opponent a free prize for the potential rapid energy build up you don't need, and discarding 7 cards off the top of your deck? I don't think so. Research Records kinda seems to me like a waste of space as well, you could play something like Pokeball, or max out your Communications and Catchers instead. Pokeball and Communication allow a speedier set up, and they put more dark pokemon into your hand so you can use Juniper to build up Honchkrow to hit for higher damage levels. This is a very interesting deck concept, and I think it would be a fun play for something like a Battle Roads.
 
The idea is to play Research Records+Electrode or RR+Sage's Training. It lets you discard Dark Pokemon while getting energy on your other Pokes. Juniper and Sage are already in there, so between the three, this deck should be able to get pretty high damage output.
 
I think instead of Mandibuzz and Weavile which don't help you should just run more basics simply because they are easier to search out so you can discard a bunch with juniper.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone!

@Sleeping Snorlax: it is indeed an OK-ish deck, and mainly made for fun/rogue purposes, and DD is by far this deck's worst matchup, along with Zekrom/Thundurus variants.

@Vulpix Yolk: Sorry about the energy symbols, I used them so that people can use them as an quick reference to a certain part of the text, should they want to. If more people complain about it, I will change them for normal text. As it stands now, RR is a key card in this deck, and I have no intentions of dropping it. WHile I agree with you the 1 prize sacrifice you make for your Electrode to pop can be a hefty price to pay sometimes, but the pay off it gives has proven quite useful in helping you with energy attachments and discards this deck simply needs to even start performing moderately. I understand your opinion of making the deck more concistent, but in my opinion this is the most concistent way to go in terms of speeding things up. Besides, you should probably only pop an Electrode in dire needs, or when you can take the prize right back (after using your Twins also, maybe?).

@Scizorliscious: That is indeed the idea of the deck; in the ''perfect setup'' scenario, this deck starts swining about 140 damage T2 (when using a medium amount of wanted resources, and counting a decent amount of discarded pokémon), and it should do so at it's last moment at T3. While still only for fun, when given the right speed factor Honchkrow can KO any pokémon played within the Tier 1 belt, meaning if it doesn't have to face with many ''revenge KO's'' it can even come out victorious out of those matchups.

@Dark Void: At first I also tried using Absol prime, but it's attack proved too hinderful for this deck, and it's body only of minimal support. Though I support the idea of more basic ''discard fodder'' in the deck, I find the lack of decent enough basic Dark pokémon the reason not to include them. I wouldn't really want to start with anything else than a Sneasel and/or Murkrow even in this list, and if I included more ''random discard fodder'' it would also mean I have a bigger chance of getting a decent start; something I value more than a good amount of dicards, which I can hopefully also get from what Im running now. A friend of mine who also went peanuts on this idea runs a completely different list from mine though, focussing more on disruption than getting a solid discard, and even though he might have a better start, late game his deck slowly falls apart. Therefore I chose to run a more balanced list, with a minimal early game, and decent to good mid/late game.

Thank you all for the input!
 
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