R.I.P. Articles and how pretty this looked.
Many months ago, I wrote an article, which you can read here. I've clocked hundreds of hours with the deck and made many discoveries. I know some of you will complain that this isn't another Turbo Dark, Yveltal-EX, or some equally as boring meta deck article but we are here to have fun and share knowledge about a decent at best deck and maybe make it better like some of the other meta decks before it. Here, I'll do you a solid! You can click the link here which will take you to the membership upgrade page. For just 14.97 a month, you can read about all the Turbo Dark and Yveltal-EX decks you want! They'll even help you build your very own Turbo Dark deck if you're having issues building it despite all the list you can just copy from the interwebz. This is almost the cost of like four Sun and Moon booster packs! It even pays for itself because the next tournament you enter, you will win booster boxes! Why have fun right? The only things that obviously matters are dark decks and if the quality of dark decks aren't to your very high standards, you can even get your money back! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
Jokes aside, one of the things I learned playing M Pidgeot-EX is what Pidgeot is good against, what it isn't good against, what to play and at what time. I won't go over all the things I went over in the first article but I'll talk about the important findings as well as give a skeleton list so you can play your very own big birb and if it performs poorly, you can just always eat it, so it's a win-win.
This article isn't supposed to be a "here's how you play this deck" kind of thing, but rather a "here's what I've noticed while playing" kind of thing so if you were looking for specific list and tech options, then you may want to look at the article link above to get an idea of what I was going for. If you take anything away from this, use my experience to find what you think may work for the deck. We're all learning here and the meta is always changing so more experience than my own will always be helpful. Turbo Dark isn't good because one person played it. It's good because of the many years the community has played dark.
Keep in mind that I'm talking about my build for Mega Pidgeot so cards I suggest or talk about below may or may not be in my deck.
Yu-Gi-Oh Level Tech
I learned a lot of stuff playing against the meta. Damage scaling decks, such a Turbo Dark, some Yveltal-EX and fairy builds use a card called Exp. Share, which moves Energy from a Pokemon that is knocked out in the Active spot and moves it to a Pokemon wearing the tool card. For example, your opponent has a Darkrai-EX in the Active spot and two Pokemon on the Bench with Exp. Share and you knockout the Active Darkrai-EX. Two Energy from that Darkrai will move to the two Pokemon on the Bench with Exp. Share, meaning all you did was take two Prize cards.
It turns out Mega Pidgeot has been the answer to this. M Pidgeot-EX's Mach Cyclone does something cool here, which has changed the matchup to something favorable. If you activate the effect of Mach Cyclone when you would knockout the Active Pokemon and force it to the Bench, you prevent Exp. Share from activating, since the Pokemon gets knocked out on the Bench when all is said and done. For those who don't know how this works. When resolving effects, you resolve everything else before checking for knockouts. They go on a stack. In this case, we have a bunch of things happening. Here is the order of events;
This new tech put these matchups into something that can just outright win you games when you factor in things like Max Potion removing turns from your opponent's game. If I was able to get a fast start and hit the cards I need when I need them, I would often 6-0 Turbo Dark with the rare instance they could take two Prize cards because I missed a Max Potion. This tech alone made Pidgeot-EX a pasta chef with all the spaghetti Mach Cyclone gives against Exp. Share. I've had many judges involved in my games because the opponents didn't know how this interaction worked. They all thought that when a Pokemon gets enough HP for a knockout, that it's instantly sent to the discard pile, thus activation Exp. Share. One thing I did learn from my time playing Yu-Gi-Oh is to learn how your cards (as well as your deck) work. This leads me to my next observation.
Speed is the Name of the Game!
Almost out of nowhere, the game got fast. Sure things like M Rayquaza-EX and M Mewtwo-EX existed but we had enough tech to manage those matchups but Turbo Dark got popular. Almost immediately after that, M Gardevoir-EX started picking up steam. Vespiquen also started getting bigger... My point is damage scaling got good and things that worked for Pidgeot stopped working. Assault Vest and Enhanced Hammer weren’t effective enough with all the scaling decks showing up. Sure it worked against Vespiquen but they have Zebstrika so our tech wasn't game changing. Mega Ray and Mega Mewtwo saw less and less play in favor of the above mention decks so we didn't need these cards as much but I did noticed one thing, and that was that Pidgeot needed speed so our new goal is to be fast enough!
Judging how fast we need to be is hard because we still can't afford to discard our Puzzle of Time and Max Potions to a Professor Sycamore because we need them to win our games so running four Sycamore isn't an option. These eight cards (puzzles and Max Potion) still make Pidgeot slower than other decks but I needed a way to make it faster. I added a few Trainers' Mail and Nest Ball to the deck and they do work but I still have mixed feelings on Trainers' Mail. We don't really have any other good cards that can just push Pidgeot that much further but I realized the way the game is going now, Pidgeot can't afford to be that slow. It needs to be fast enough to keep up and while waiting to get hit is still a valid strategy, I would much rather hit my opponent's Pokemon first before they hit me back, just to be ahead of the damage trade and with scaling decks being very popular, I couldn't afford to sit and wait. This could mean the difference between using one Max Potion or two Max Potion.
The one thing I learned is I need to have a strong first turn. I need to get down as many Pidgeot as I can so if my opponent plays Escape Rope, they would just get another Pidgeot-EX in the Active spot and not my Remoraid or Octillery. This happens more often then I care for and when they knockout Remoraid because of Escape Rope, the game could end in a loss because we lose our draw support. Ideally I'd want a Pidgeot-EX in the Active spot, one on the Bench and two Remoraid. This gives me a strong early game while avoiding Parallel City, which Pidgeot needs but it got me thinking, "what exactly needs to be in the deck".
Pidgeot's Basic Necessities
After many months of research (and many tested cards) as the meta shifted, I had to adapt the list and to the (my) meta. Below I feel are the cards you should want in any M Pidgeot-EX deck.
Pidgeot-EX
Pokemon (11)
Trainers (30)
Energy (9)
4x Pidgeot-EX
3x M Pidgeot-EX
2x Remoraid
2x Octillery
3x Professor Birch's Observations
2x N
1x Lysandre
1x Skyla
------------------------------------------
4x Max Potion
4x Puzzle of Time
3x Ultra Ball
2x Nest Ball
2x Mega Turbo
------------------------------------------
3x Pidgeot Spirit Link
2x Float Stone
------------------------------------------
3x Shrine of Memories
4x Double Colorless Energy
5x Metal Energy
The list is still very tight but there is space for other options, considering the ones I'm going to suggest from the next Sun and Moon set Guardians Raising. I feel the above list is the bare minimum you can run.
Things like Shaymin-EX speed up the deck and would free up a few card slots but we lose the late game, which Pidgeot can't afford. Trainer's Mail does help but the many times I played it, I either didn't take anything or what was there I couldn't use but it could help find things to get more Pokemon into play, like Nest Ball.
I still swear by Magearna-EX and I keep one in my deck because of what could be. Its attack Soul Blaster is still really good a nuking metal weak Pokemon such as Glaceon-EX, M Gardevoir-EX and other Pokemon that could be a threat. I really do feel Pidgeot needs other attackers to help it out but I still haven't found anything that is really good. Magearna-EX is a nice Pokemon to attack with at times and I still have faith in Lugia-EX as a solid backup attacker but I feel our other attackers should be able to cover Pidgeot's weaknesses which are attackers that can OHKO Pidgeot.
My personal deck has Professor Kukui in it because it lets Pidgeot hit magic numbers. Being able to deal 180 total damage with Pidgeot-EX is very nice since we often will miss a 2HKO on a Pokemon with 170 or 180 HP. I put in into my deck to knockout 150 HP Pokemon like Xerneas BREAK in one hit with Mega Pidgeot.
Going First and Going Second
These two things have been very important for Pidgeot. The reason I say this is because where we place our first Energy attachment matters. Depending on the deck we're facing and whether or not we go first could affect the whole game. Against Turbo Dark and you go first, you want to place your first Energy on your active Pidgeot-EX because more than likely, they can't hit you back so you get the first blow before you have to drop a Max Potion and use Mirror Move. This is very effective because you can take a KO on your second turn. If you go second against Turbo Dark, you're better off attaching that Energy to a Benched Pidgeot so you can prepare the active for a Mirror Move attack since it would be a waste to attach the Energy card to the active.
Decks like Yveltal-EX are different because of how they scale is based on your Pokemon as well so you may be able to attach the Energy to the Active whether or not you go first and bait them to commit more Energy because it makes Mirror Move more powerful. The order here does work against other decks and matchup knowledge lets you effectively place your Energy for the early game, where it matters.
Ideally you want to go first if you can help it because of how much advantage you get from hitting first.
Things I've Been Considering
A heavier Octillery line. I'm talking like a 4-3 or 3-3 line because getting down two Remoraid early just helps our setup so much and getting down multiple of them prevents them from being Lysandre targets which happens when there's only one on the Bench. Since Octillery is so important to the stability of the deck, using the space for more of them seems like the right thing to do, though I haven't tested this yet. I normally Prize one of them so having more for the chance I Prize poorly is a good idea. With Mallow coming out soon, I get to completely restructure how I run the deck.
Another thing I wanted to do was run more ball cards. I feel the first turn of this deck is rocky. My personal deck runs seven Basic Pokemon and we don't start Pidgeot often so I want more Basic Pokemon but they need to work well with Pidgeot. Having more Remoraid and balls to get Pokemon into play will also help. The struggle is finding the right numbers. My personal deck runs three Ultra Ball and two Nest Ball and I've considered increasing the counts of these to see if I get them more often. The huge issue with the deck (like any other deck) is just finding the space to fit them but with each game played, I get a bit closer to the list I want.
The other thing I've been wanting to try was Skarmory over Enhanced Hammer simply because it can wipe all special Energy on the board. The reason I want this is because it's another metal-type attacker and it's easily searchable. A lot of the decks I come across run a lot of special Energy and at times you just want them all gone. It discards your DCE as well but it'll be worth it to remove all of your opponent's Rainbow Energy and Double Dragon Energy in one go. Enhanced Hammer has its uses and just out of habit I want to use it since I can still attack. It just require more testing to see which I prefer more.
Naturally with decks like this (or any other deck for that matter), you want to put Crushing Hammer and Team Flare Grunt in it, which makes you want to try Team Skull Grunt. Energy denial is very strong and something I keep wanting to try out. I also just heard watching a Rare Candy video where some guy took a quad Lapras-GX deck with hammers to top four in a tournament, so there you go. Hamur is gud!
The One Professor Sycamore
The reason I run Professor Birch's Observations over Professor Sycamore is because we don't want to discard our useful cards. Things like Max Potion and Puzzle of Time can't be recovered easily. It's not like other decks where you can discard two or three special Energy cards because you can get them back with Special Charge. For my personal deck, I run the one copy of Professor Sycamore because it's still a very good draw card despite the risk of running it but I would much rather have one in the deck than nothing at all.
I know what you all are saying. "But Crystal_Pidgeot, how often do you see it?" Well, the answer is... Not often at all and when I do have it in my hand, I normally discard it in favor of playing N or Birch and to be honest with you, I prefer it that way. I would much rather have it in my discard pile, where I have access to it via VS Seeker. To give you some numbers, if I played 20 matches with it, I might play Professor Sycamore one or two times, whether or not I saw the card in those games.
For me, I feel much better knowing I have access to it simply because it gets us seven new cards but the card doesn't really do anything for us. I could remove the card from my deck and the performance won't be affected at all. As a matter of fact, the deck might be better off if we replaced it with something Pidgeot actually wants. The main problem is there aren't any cards that really work well with this kind of deck and once again, Mallow should fix this problem.
It may be out of habit (since Professor Juniper and Professor Sycamore has been the best card draw in the game since BW) that we run it (even as a single copy) but I may need to break this habit and do what's best for the deck. Habits do die hard and in a competitive game, you don't want to let tradition run your game.
Weakness
Pidgeot has no ability to deal with decks that can knock it out in one hit. You still want to have Mirror Move as an option. Decks like Lurantis-GX / Solgaleo-GX, M Rayquaza-EX, pretty much and lightning-type attacker and to a lesser extent, M Mewtwo-EX can just knock you out in one hit, which is annoying because in my area, these decks are common. What I wanted to test was Flareon-EX in my list since I know of three players who run Lurantis-GX and or Solgaleo-GX (and the odd number or Decidueye-GX appearing). This would in fact be a good meta call since all I have to do is remove the metal Energy and add fire Energy and add in Flareon-EX. Likewise, we could also do the same thing and add Zebstrika or even something like Mewtwo since Mega Mewtwo is more annoying than it has any right to be.
The biggest issue here is Pidgeot doesn't really have any reliable ways to tech against its threats. For me personally, it would make sense to run Flareon-EX since there are many Solgaleo decks but I find other decks more threatening since at worst I give a Mega Pidgeot to hit something once. I haven't really found any other weaknesses for Pidgeot other than the overabundance of OHKO decks in the format and others that can reach that instance if left unchecked.
Strengths
Pidgeot is still really good against decks that trade hits with it. It's a classic anime fight where both characters fight until someone wins. Anything that has to 2HKO Pidgeot is a very favorable matchup and there are lots of them. The most common among them are the dark variants. They don't OHKO us immediately and assuming we don't brick, then we're the favorite to win. Dark is still a very popular deck and very strong but we beat it and in this meta, you need to be able to beat it. Max Potion is very useful against these decks since it lets us be reactive to their plays.
The biggest factor here is how consistent Octillery allows us to be. Against these decks, I often take a four Prize card lead before my opponent takes their first two (if they take any at all) Prize cards and they lose their option of disruptive N plays since I can always go up to five cards. There are times where N will remove our stacked hand and we go down to one or two cards in our hand but we're always able to go up to five cards. It just works so well for us against these decks since we always have options available to us.
This however is an odd point but I feel I have to mention it. Mega Pidgeot's rogue status comes with great power. Most people don't know what it (the mega) does and out of desperation, they will just Lysandre one to the Active spot not seeing it has a free Retreat Cost. This has happened many times during competitive play to the point I have to list it as a strength. The reactions on their face is just priceless when I tell them Mega Pidgeot's Retreat Cost is zero. This often cost them the game in the end.
Useful Things Pidgeot Decks Need
Pidgeot needs other attackers and it needs a powerful GX attack. Problem is I haven't found anything useful. Lugia-EX and Tauros-GX are useful attackers and the first to come to mind. Both are hard to pick between but I find Tauros-GX to be its most useful with Ninja Boy, which is a card I can't fit in. Our Supporter usage is better used on something that can find us cards and if we are sacking Pokemon anyway, we are better off just letting Pidgeot get roasted. I find Lugia-EX as a much better attacker since it can scale its damage. Tauros-GX has a 60 damage attack for two, which is very good damage considering how good Rage and Mad Bull GX are when you start taking hits. One thing I can say is Tauros-GX scales VERY well against dark decks.
Other tech options are hard to say though. Your tech attackers should be for things that hurt Pidgeot. Pidgeot can hold its own fairly well but it does want that nuke factor you can get from exploiting Weaknesses in your area but finding which one to choose is hard to commit to when you have many threats like I do. As for other tech cards. I feel it's hard to fit them in. Enhanced Hammer is a great option to help with the dragon matchup and other odd matches like Mega Mewtwo
In the next set, we get useful GX attacks. A shuffle and draw 10 cards is just nice and one I'm looking forward to and Sylveon-GX just looks fun and will solve matchup issues for me. Another thing that could be useful is adding a second Silent Lab, which many decks have been doing. This will put us up to five Stadium cards which isn't that bad but it does make other matches favorable.
Micro Healing Options
I notice decks that don't OHKO your Pidgeot will often hit you for little damage in the beginning. For example, the popular dark decks often deal between 60 and 80 damage, which is heavy enough damage to warrant me popping a Max Potion early and while this isn't an issue, since we do run Puzzle of Time and can recover them when needed, I often felt like a Super Potion or Pokémon Center Lady would have been a much better option. Even Potion would have removed enough damage to remove us from knockout range. Against Turbo Dark, this could make Dark Pulse deal between 30 and 50 damage on their first attack, meaning they may miss a 2HKO on Pidgeot-EX and making M Pidgeot-EX completely safe from being turned into food.
This same thing is true for Water Toolbox, since Palkia-EX 40 damage effectively lets Lapras-GX deal 210 (with Fighting Fury Belt) damage with Blizzard Burn. This could be an issue since you never know if they play Professor Kukui, letting them deal the final damage they need. With this damage, we would want to heal it to prevent the KO on our Mega Pidgeot and wasting a Max Potion to heal 40 damage isn't efficient. The same thing is true when facing Tauros-GX since its 60 for two is enough damage to worry about being hit by something bigger. I haven't tested this yet but I feel a single copy of a smaller healing card could be useful, which would also save us Energy.
The Future is Bright
The second Sun and Moon set is right around the corner and there are some interesting cards. Huge props for the secret rare Max Potion but the real star here is Mallow. A huge problem for Pidgeot is finding the right cards when you need them. For those not in the loop, Mallow is a new Supporter from Sun and Moon Guardians Raising, which is a reprint of Oracle. It lets you take two cards from your deck, shuffle your deck and the two cards you choose on the top of your deck how you wish. The reason this is a big deal is because it's a card Pidgeot needed for a while now. In combination with Octillery or Shaymin-EX, Mallow effectively turns into a "search your deck for two cards and put them into your hand" effect, which is super strong. The reason this is good because we can always find a Max Potion and Mega Turbo, an Energy Card and Shrine of Memories - just a combination of things we happen to need at that time in the match. Maybe we already have the Max Potion and Puzzle of Time in hand but we are missing another Puzzle of Time and maybe an Energy. Now we can complete a whole combo and maybe gain a card for the next turn.
I have missed many cards just trying to draw into them and while I have been lucky before, the risk of losing a Pokemon because I missed a Max Potion or a combination of the three can still be pretty high. She is a godsend to Pidgeot-EX players because this means we can remove cards that could have helped us for cards that will help us.
Field Blower is great because it allows the Turbo Dark match to be easier as well as any deck that uses Exp. Share since we don't have to commit as hard to a Mach Cyclone and allow Mirror Move to be useful.
Matchups
The matchups for Pidgeot are still odd since anything you trade hits with (assuming you get ideal draws) is pretty much an auto win and anything that can OHKO you will be an auto loss. The auto loss matchups aren't Pidgeot exclusive either since Mega Ray does what it does to Pidgeot that is does to Turbo Dark and Volcanion does a thing but in my experience, you either win the match 2-0 or you lose 0-2 or you get a draw. There aren't many times I've played where I went 2-1 in a match and when I did, it was because I bricked.
Turbo Dark
This match, assuming things go right is very favorable since you can hit them back for large damage while keeping Energy of the board because of Mach Cyclone. The match is very scary since they can get going quickly but your deck has the tech and tools to just 6-0 this deck.
This match normally comes down to how risky you want to play (not playing Max Potion to heal 60 damage and risking the KO next turn on a Pidgeot), how often Max Elixir hits and how often you can find a Max potion. If you play well and find the cards you need, you should be just fine but if you start slow, then things become rocky.
Water Toolbox
Another rocky match that can be favorable. I've yet to lose a competitive match to this deck though it can happen. A game happened where I was behind four Prize cards before even getting a Mega Pidgeot out, though I still won in the end. The thing here was I couldn't use Magearna-EX since it would have been an easy target for Lysandre so I had to eat an unnecessary Ice Beam GX, though it wasn't costly. A fast Lapras-GX with a Fighting Fury Belt can hit for 170 damage, which will KO Pidgeot-EX in a single hit which can happen in the early game. I found myself just playing a Max Potion to heal a damaged Pidgeot just so I can Mega Evolve, missing my Mirror Move for the turn but as soon as I build up a few Mega Pidgeot we get favorable trades since they can't OHKO them. The best thing here is even after they use Rough Seas to heal, they are still in KO range for Mach Cyclone.
The scary thing here is all the support water is getting but the game plan is to get a lot of mega burds out quickly and hit Lapras first before they hit you. Doing this puts trades in your favor since you can respond with a Mirror Move. Getting a lot of Pidgeot-EX down early means you'll get at least two M Pidgeot-EX out during the game and in all the games I've played against this deck, they were all I needed for the entire match. Once you do get this setup, the matchup becomes a little less scary.
Vileplume Variants
These are always a crap-shoot. If they get a Vileplume into play quickly, you can cheese out wins because they lose all of their options as soon as it comes into play. Mirror Move is surprisingly effective, though it sucks you can't use Items and that means you can't play Max Potion.
It really depends on how well you draw and how effective N is against your opponent. The worst thing here is to trade your Mirror Moves for free and this really does suck.
Solgaleo-GX Variants
You generally just lose to these decks. Solgaleo-GX has the ability to OHKO Mega Pidgeot, which is annoying. Dragon variants also like using Sol Burst GX because they can get their Energy into play and these decks often run Darkrai-EX, which is why I favor Skarmory. The other build runs Lurantis-GX and it lets Solgaleo-GX use Sunsteel Strike as much as it wants, which Pidgeot hates.
If you can keep Cosmog of the board, then it becomes much more favorable. I've done this a few times but it doesn't happen often so I consider it an auto loss.
One thing I did notice is if you can hit the Solgaleo-GX first and can follow up with the KO the second hit, then you should be good. It really does matter where they place the Energy with their GX attack because if you can drop one, things get better for the match. The thing that sucks here is you have to pretty much trade two Prize cards just to set one up for a knockout. Mega Pidgeot's 130 damage is super nice here because it will 2HKO them. If this deck plays Max Potion, then you should just sign the match slip because you aren't winning. This is Pokemon so anything can happen but I have little faith in that.
Yveltal-EX / Garbodor
Just like before, the scaling here can be a problem but once an Yveltal-EX goes down, so does a lot of Energy. Some builds run Exp. Share, which we can cheese but Garbodor is always an equalizing factor. Assuming we get hit hard, we can just Lysandre it up and Mirror Move / Mach Cyclone to get rid of it. We have our items but the loss of Octillery's Ability does hurt since we need to be careful about any lead we take. This deck isn't played as much because Turbo Dark is just better.
Dark Dragons
It's just get a bunch of special Energy down and hit hard with Dark Pulse. The match is much the same though we have to play smart with Mega Pidgeot since Giratina-EX's Ability blocks all damage and effects of attacks done by Mega Evolved Pokemon. You fight the Darkrai-EX when you can with M Pidgeot-EX and you fight Giratina-EX with Pidgeot-EX. In this match you want to play your Double Colorless when you can because chances are you won't be able to play them so saving your basic metal Energy for Max Potion Mirror Move plays should be priority. If you can get a Silent Lab down, then things should be good but knockout the Pokemon with the Energy and you win.
Volcanion-EX
This deck shows up from time to time and it is powerful. If you go first and get Energy into play, you can more than likely take a KO on the next turn. Field Blower removes bulk making Mach Cyclone's 130 printed damage a dangerous move for the opponent since these decks often get two Power heat off because of the 170 HP being hard to take down in one blow. If you can keep the Volcanion-EX from getting too big, they have to trade blows with your Mirror Move. The deck is still scary since it can just have everything and take a knockout on Mega Pidgeot every turn and there's nothing you can do about it. Silent Lab here is very good to have since most Volcanion decks play zero to three Stadium cards, meaning you'll win the Stadium war so keeping a Silent Lab in play means things are in your favor.
M Rayquaza-EX
They just knock you out in one hit each turn. The deck is super-fast and you have to hope they miss or Prize key cards... Just like Night March!
Where Does Pidgeot Fit in This Meta?
This is hard to say. The meta went back to one-hit kills and with GX attacks around, you have to be aware of random nukes, all of which Pidgeot doesn't like since our goal is to tank a hit, heal and respond with Mirror Move. A lot of the meta still wants to trade blows with you, which Pidgeot does well against but the game is starting to become more lock based again, which prevents the use of cards you need.
Pidgeot is in an odd limbo for me because my only really bad match is anything that can OHKO us and maybe Mega Mewtwo but this is really it. I do feel Pidgeot does its best against anything else that can't OHKO it so it sits right in the middle of the meta saying "I'm here everyone". It's not exactly like M Scizor-EX who just can't find its place in the meta but you can take M Pidgeot-EX to a tournament and get results with it.
I guess all I can say is if your meta isn't full of OHKO decks (like mine is), then give it a try and see what happens. Maybe build it for your league and have it as a fun deck. The deck does have a very high skill curve so it might not be right for everyone but it is fun and if tempo is your play style, then you'll have fun playing this deck. Pidgeot to me just feels like a deck that wins every matchup but a few outright. There are only a handful of matches I fear simply because of how volatile they can be. A perfect example of this is against Volcanion where it could be slow all game but then get the right set of cards and just go off. I can tell you no one likes playing against Pidgeot-EX.
Summary
I've spent a lot of time playing M Pidgeot-EX and learned a lot. The Pidgeot deck is just as unstable as the B-2. Octillery, like the computers on board the bomber stabilizes it and when things go right, boy do they flow but should an error happen, things go south quickly but you have to do your best to stay flying or you crash and burn. The game favors damage scaling and Item lock decks and Pidgeot is somewhere in the middle trying to find its way between its good and bad matchups. The deck gets better when Guardians Raising drops and I'll do more testing with a deck built to support Mallow. We are playing Pidgeot-EX till it rotates people!
Thank you for reading! #Vileplume / Decidueye-GX / Sableye
Crystal_Pidgeot
Many months ago, I wrote an article, which you can read here. I've clocked hundreds of hours with the deck and made many discoveries. I know some of you will complain that this isn't another Turbo Dark, Yveltal-EX, or some equally as boring meta deck article but we are here to have fun and share knowledge about a decent at best deck and maybe make it better like some of the other meta decks before it. Here, I'll do you a solid! You can click the link here which will take you to the membership upgrade page. For just 14.97 a month, you can read about all the Turbo Dark and Yveltal-EX decks you want! They'll even help you build your very own Turbo Dark deck if you're having issues building it despite all the list you can just copy from the interwebz. This is almost the cost of like four Sun and Moon booster packs! It even pays for itself because the next tournament you enter, you will win booster boxes! Why have fun right? The only things that obviously matters are dark decks and if the quality of dark decks aren't to your very high standards, you can even get your money back! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
Jokes aside, one of the things I learned playing M Pidgeot-EX is what Pidgeot is good against, what it isn't good against, what to play and at what time. I won't go over all the things I went over in the first article but I'll talk about the important findings as well as give a skeleton list so you can play your very own big birb and if it performs poorly, you can just always eat it, so it's a win-win.
This article isn't supposed to be a "here's how you play this deck" kind of thing, but rather a "here's what I've noticed while playing" kind of thing so if you were looking for specific list and tech options, then you may want to look at the article link above to get an idea of what I was going for. If you take anything away from this, use my experience to find what you think may work for the deck. We're all learning here and the meta is always changing so more experience than my own will always be helpful. Turbo Dark isn't good because one person played it. It's good because of the many years the community has played dark.
Keep in mind that I'm talking about my build for Mega Pidgeot so cards I suggest or talk about below may or may not be in my deck.
Yu-Gi-Oh Level Tech
I learned a lot of stuff playing against the meta. Damage scaling decks, such a Turbo Dark, some Yveltal-EX and fairy builds use a card called Exp. Share, which moves Energy from a Pokemon that is knocked out in the Active spot and moves it to a Pokemon wearing the tool card. For example, your opponent has a Darkrai-EX in the Active spot and two Pokemon on the Bench with Exp. Share and you knockout the Active Darkrai-EX. Two Energy from that Darkrai will move to the two Pokemon on the Bench with Exp. Share, meaning all you did was take two Prize cards.
It turns out Mega Pidgeot has been the answer to this. M Pidgeot-EX's Mach Cyclone does something cool here, which has changed the matchup to something favorable. If you activate the effect of Mach Cyclone when you would knockout the Active Pokemon and force it to the Bench, you prevent Exp. Share from activating, since the Pokemon gets knocked out on the Bench when all is said and done. For those who don't know how this works. When resolving effects, you resolve everything else before checking for knockouts. They go on a stack. In this case, we have a bunch of things happening. Here is the order of events;
- Mach Cyclone and damage placement
- Opponent's Active Pokemon with enough damage for a knockout
- Mach Cyclone's Effect
- Opponent switches their Active Pokemon with a Benched Pokemon
- Other effect Checks
- Check for Knockouts
- EXP. Share
This new tech put these matchups into something that can just outright win you games when you factor in things like Max Potion removing turns from your opponent's game. If I was able to get a fast start and hit the cards I need when I need them, I would often 6-0 Turbo Dark with the rare instance they could take two Prize cards because I missed a Max Potion. This tech alone made Pidgeot-EX a pasta chef with all the spaghetti Mach Cyclone gives against Exp. Share. I've had many judges involved in my games because the opponents didn't know how this interaction worked. They all thought that when a Pokemon gets enough HP for a knockout, that it's instantly sent to the discard pile, thus activation Exp. Share. One thing I did learn from my time playing Yu-Gi-Oh is to learn how your cards (as well as your deck) work. This leads me to my next observation.
Speed is the Name of the Game!
Almost out of nowhere, the game got fast. Sure things like M Rayquaza-EX and M Mewtwo-EX existed but we had enough tech to manage those matchups but Turbo Dark got popular. Almost immediately after that, M Gardevoir-EX started picking up steam. Vespiquen also started getting bigger... My point is damage scaling got good and things that worked for Pidgeot stopped working. Assault Vest and Enhanced Hammer weren’t effective enough with all the scaling decks showing up. Sure it worked against Vespiquen but they have Zebstrika so our tech wasn't game changing. Mega Ray and Mega Mewtwo saw less and less play in favor of the above mention decks so we didn't need these cards as much but I did noticed one thing, and that was that Pidgeot needed speed so our new goal is to be fast enough!
Judging how fast we need to be is hard because we still can't afford to discard our Puzzle of Time and Max Potions to a Professor Sycamore because we need them to win our games so running four Sycamore isn't an option. These eight cards (puzzles and Max Potion) still make Pidgeot slower than other decks but I needed a way to make it faster. I added a few Trainers' Mail and Nest Ball to the deck and they do work but I still have mixed feelings on Trainers' Mail. We don't really have any other good cards that can just push Pidgeot that much further but I realized the way the game is going now, Pidgeot can't afford to be that slow. It needs to be fast enough to keep up and while waiting to get hit is still a valid strategy, I would much rather hit my opponent's Pokemon first before they hit me back, just to be ahead of the damage trade and with scaling decks being very popular, I couldn't afford to sit and wait. This could mean the difference between using one Max Potion or two Max Potion.
The one thing I learned is I need to have a strong first turn. I need to get down as many Pidgeot as I can so if my opponent plays Escape Rope, they would just get another Pidgeot-EX in the Active spot and not my Remoraid or Octillery. This happens more often then I care for and when they knockout Remoraid because of Escape Rope, the game could end in a loss because we lose our draw support. Ideally I'd want a Pidgeot-EX in the Active spot, one on the Bench and two Remoraid. This gives me a strong early game while avoiding Parallel City, which Pidgeot needs but it got me thinking, "what exactly needs to be in the deck".
Pidgeot's Basic Necessities
After many months of research (and many tested cards) as the meta shifted, I had to adapt the list and to the (my) meta. Below I feel are the cards you should want in any M Pidgeot-EX deck.
Pidgeot-EX
Pokemon (11)
Trainers (30)
Energy (9)
4x Pidgeot-EX
3x M Pidgeot-EX
2x Remoraid
2x Octillery
3x Professor Birch's Observations
2x N
1x Lysandre
1x Skyla
------------------------------------------
4x Max Potion
4x Puzzle of Time
3x Ultra Ball
2x Nest Ball
2x Mega Turbo
------------------------------------------
3x Pidgeot Spirit Link
2x Float Stone
------------------------------------------
3x Shrine of Memories
4x Double Colorless Energy
5x Metal Energy
The list is still very tight but there is space for other options, considering the ones I'm going to suggest from the next Sun and Moon set Guardians Raising. I feel the above list is the bare minimum you can run.
Things like Shaymin-EX speed up the deck and would free up a few card slots but we lose the late game, which Pidgeot can't afford. Trainer's Mail does help but the many times I played it, I either didn't take anything or what was there I couldn't use but it could help find things to get more Pokemon into play, like Nest Ball.
I still swear by Magearna-EX and I keep one in my deck because of what could be. Its attack Soul Blaster is still really good a nuking metal weak Pokemon such as Glaceon-EX, M Gardevoir-EX and other Pokemon that could be a threat. I really do feel Pidgeot needs other attackers to help it out but I still haven't found anything that is really good. Magearna-EX is a nice Pokemon to attack with at times and I still have faith in Lugia-EX as a solid backup attacker but I feel our other attackers should be able to cover Pidgeot's weaknesses which are attackers that can OHKO Pidgeot.
My personal deck has Professor Kukui in it because it lets Pidgeot hit magic numbers. Being able to deal 180 total damage with Pidgeot-EX is very nice since we often will miss a 2HKO on a Pokemon with 170 or 180 HP. I put in into my deck to knockout 150 HP Pokemon like Xerneas BREAK in one hit with Mega Pidgeot.
Going First and Going Second
These two things have been very important for Pidgeot. The reason I say this is because where we place our first Energy attachment matters. Depending on the deck we're facing and whether or not we go first could affect the whole game. Against Turbo Dark and you go first, you want to place your first Energy on your active Pidgeot-EX because more than likely, they can't hit you back so you get the first blow before you have to drop a Max Potion and use Mirror Move. This is very effective because you can take a KO on your second turn. If you go second against Turbo Dark, you're better off attaching that Energy to a Benched Pidgeot so you can prepare the active for a Mirror Move attack since it would be a waste to attach the Energy card to the active.
Decks like Yveltal-EX are different because of how they scale is based on your Pokemon as well so you may be able to attach the Energy to the Active whether or not you go first and bait them to commit more Energy because it makes Mirror Move more powerful. The order here does work against other decks and matchup knowledge lets you effectively place your Energy for the early game, where it matters.
Ideally you want to go first if you can help it because of how much advantage you get from hitting first.
Things I've Been Considering
A heavier Octillery line. I'm talking like a 4-3 or 3-3 line because getting down two Remoraid early just helps our setup so much and getting down multiple of them prevents them from being Lysandre targets which happens when there's only one on the Bench. Since Octillery is so important to the stability of the deck, using the space for more of them seems like the right thing to do, though I haven't tested this yet. I normally Prize one of them so having more for the chance I Prize poorly is a good idea. With Mallow coming out soon, I get to completely restructure how I run the deck.
Another thing I wanted to do was run more ball cards. I feel the first turn of this deck is rocky. My personal deck runs seven Basic Pokemon and we don't start Pidgeot often so I want more Basic Pokemon but they need to work well with Pidgeot. Having more Remoraid and balls to get Pokemon into play will also help. The struggle is finding the right numbers. My personal deck runs three Ultra Ball and two Nest Ball and I've considered increasing the counts of these to see if I get them more often. The huge issue with the deck (like any other deck) is just finding the space to fit them but with each game played, I get a bit closer to the list I want.
The other thing I've been wanting to try was Skarmory over Enhanced Hammer simply because it can wipe all special Energy on the board. The reason I want this is because it's another metal-type attacker and it's easily searchable. A lot of the decks I come across run a lot of special Energy and at times you just want them all gone. It discards your DCE as well but it'll be worth it to remove all of your opponent's Rainbow Energy and Double Dragon Energy in one go. Enhanced Hammer has its uses and just out of habit I want to use it since I can still attack. It just require more testing to see which I prefer more.
Naturally with decks like this (or any other deck for that matter), you want to put Crushing Hammer and Team Flare Grunt in it, which makes you want to try Team Skull Grunt. Energy denial is very strong and something I keep wanting to try out. I also just heard watching a Rare Candy video where some guy took a quad Lapras-GX deck with hammers to top four in a tournament, so there you go. Hamur is gud!
The One Professor Sycamore
The reason I run Professor Birch's Observations over Professor Sycamore is because we don't want to discard our useful cards. Things like Max Potion and Puzzle of Time can't be recovered easily. It's not like other decks where you can discard two or three special Energy cards because you can get them back with Special Charge. For my personal deck, I run the one copy of Professor Sycamore because it's still a very good draw card despite the risk of running it but I would much rather have one in the deck than nothing at all.
I know what you all are saying. "But Crystal_Pidgeot, how often do you see it?" Well, the answer is... Not often at all and when I do have it in my hand, I normally discard it in favor of playing N or Birch and to be honest with you, I prefer it that way. I would much rather have it in my discard pile, where I have access to it via VS Seeker. To give you some numbers, if I played 20 matches with it, I might play Professor Sycamore one or two times, whether or not I saw the card in those games.
For me, I feel much better knowing I have access to it simply because it gets us seven new cards but the card doesn't really do anything for us. I could remove the card from my deck and the performance won't be affected at all. As a matter of fact, the deck might be better off if we replaced it with something Pidgeot actually wants. The main problem is there aren't any cards that really work well with this kind of deck and once again, Mallow should fix this problem.
It may be out of habit (since Professor Juniper and Professor Sycamore has been the best card draw in the game since BW) that we run it (even as a single copy) but I may need to break this habit and do what's best for the deck. Habits do die hard and in a competitive game, you don't want to let tradition run your game.
Weakness
Pidgeot has no ability to deal with decks that can knock it out in one hit. You still want to have Mirror Move as an option. Decks like Lurantis-GX / Solgaleo-GX, M Rayquaza-EX, pretty much and lightning-type attacker and to a lesser extent, M Mewtwo-EX can just knock you out in one hit, which is annoying because in my area, these decks are common. What I wanted to test was Flareon-EX in my list since I know of three players who run Lurantis-GX and or Solgaleo-GX (and the odd number or Decidueye-GX appearing). This would in fact be a good meta call since all I have to do is remove the metal Energy and add fire Energy and add in Flareon-EX. Likewise, we could also do the same thing and add Zebstrika or even something like Mewtwo since Mega Mewtwo is more annoying than it has any right to be.
The biggest issue here is Pidgeot doesn't really have any reliable ways to tech against its threats. For me personally, it would make sense to run Flareon-EX since there are many Solgaleo decks but I find other decks more threatening since at worst I give a Mega Pidgeot to hit something once. I haven't really found any other weaknesses for Pidgeot other than the overabundance of OHKO decks in the format and others that can reach that instance if left unchecked.
Strengths
Pidgeot is still really good against decks that trade hits with it. It's a classic anime fight where both characters fight until someone wins. Anything that has to 2HKO Pidgeot is a very favorable matchup and there are lots of them. The most common among them are the dark variants. They don't OHKO us immediately and assuming we don't brick, then we're the favorite to win. Dark is still a very popular deck and very strong but we beat it and in this meta, you need to be able to beat it. Max Potion is very useful against these decks since it lets us be reactive to their plays.
The biggest factor here is how consistent Octillery allows us to be. Against these decks, I often take a four Prize card lead before my opponent takes their first two (if they take any at all) Prize cards and they lose their option of disruptive N plays since I can always go up to five cards. There are times where N will remove our stacked hand and we go down to one or two cards in our hand but we're always able to go up to five cards. It just works so well for us against these decks since we always have options available to us.
This however is an odd point but I feel I have to mention it. Mega Pidgeot's rogue status comes with great power. Most people don't know what it (the mega) does and out of desperation, they will just Lysandre one to the Active spot not seeing it has a free Retreat Cost. This has happened many times during competitive play to the point I have to list it as a strength. The reactions on their face is just priceless when I tell them Mega Pidgeot's Retreat Cost is zero. This often cost them the game in the end.
Useful Things Pidgeot Decks Need
Pidgeot needs other attackers and it needs a powerful GX attack. Problem is I haven't found anything useful. Lugia-EX and Tauros-GX are useful attackers and the first to come to mind. Both are hard to pick between but I find Tauros-GX to be its most useful with Ninja Boy, which is a card I can't fit in. Our Supporter usage is better used on something that can find us cards and if we are sacking Pokemon anyway, we are better off just letting Pidgeot get roasted. I find Lugia-EX as a much better attacker since it can scale its damage. Tauros-GX has a 60 damage attack for two, which is very good damage considering how good Rage and Mad Bull GX are when you start taking hits. One thing I can say is Tauros-GX scales VERY well against dark decks.
Other tech options are hard to say though. Your tech attackers should be for things that hurt Pidgeot. Pidgeot can hold its own fairly well but it does want that nuke factor you can get from exploiting Weaknesses in your area but finding which one to choose is hard to commit to when you have many threats like I do. As for other tech cards. I feel it's hard to fit them in. Enhanced Hammer is a great option to help with the dragon matchup and other odd matches like Mega Mewtwo
In the next set, we get useful GX attacks. A shuffle and draw 10 cards is just nice and one I'm looking forward to and Sylveon-GX just looks fun and will solve matchup issues for me. Another thing that could be useful is adding a second Silent Lab, which many decks have been doing. This will put us up to five Stadium cards which isn't that bad but it does make other matches favorable.
Micro Healing Options
I notice decks that don't OHKO your Pidgeot will often hit you for little damage in the beginning. For example, the popular dark decks often deal between 60 and 80 damage, which is heavy enough damage to warrant me popping a Max Potion early and while this isn't an issue, since we do run Puzzle of Time and can recover them when needed, I often felt like a Super Potion or Pokémon Center Lady would have been a much better option. Even Potion would have removed enough damage to remove us from knockout range. Against Turbo Dark, this could make Dark Pulse deal between 30 and 50 damage on their first attack, meaning they may miss a 2HKO on Pidgeot-EX and making M Pidgeot-EX completely safe from being turned into food.
This same thing is true for Water Toolbox, since Palkia-EX 40 damage effectively lets Lapras-GX deal 210 (with Fighting Fury Belt) damage with Blizzard Burn. This could be an issue since you never know if they play Professor Kukui, letting them deal the final damage they need. With this damage, we would want to heal it to prevent the KO on our Mega Pidgeot and wasting a Max Potion to heal 40 damage isn't efficient. The same thing is true when facing Tauros-GX since its 60 for two is enough damage to worry about being hit by something bigger. I haven't tested this yet but I feel a single copy of a smaller healing card could be useful, which would also save us Energy.
The Future is Bright
The second Sun and Moon set is right around the corner and there are some interesting cards. Huge props for the secret rare Max Potion but the real star here is Mallow. A huge problem for Pidgeot is finding the right cards when you need them. For those not in the loop, Mallow is a new Supporter from Sun and Moon Guardians Raising, which is a reprint of Oracle. It lets you take two cards from your deck, shuffle your deck and the two cards you choose on the top of your deck how you wish. The reason this is a big deal is because it's a card Pidgeot needed for a while now. In combination with Octillery or Shaymin-EX, Mallow effectively turns into a "search your deck for two cards and put them into your hand" effect, which is super strong. The reason this is good because we can always find a Max Potion and Mega Turbo, an Energy Card and Shrine of Memories - just a combination of things we happen to need at that time in the match. Maybe we already have the Max Potion and Puzzle of Time in hand but we are missing another Puzzle of Time and maybe an Energy. Now we can complete a whole combo and maybe gain a card for the next turn.
I have missed many cards just trying to draw into them and while I have been lucky before, the risk of losing a Pokemon because I missed a Max Potion or a combination of the three can still be pretty high. She is a godsend to Pidgeot-EX players because this means we can remove cards that could have helped us for cards that will help us.
Field Blower is great because it allows the Turbo Dark match to be easier as well as any deck that uses Exp. Share since we don't have to commit as hard to a Mach Cyclone and allow Mirror Move to be useful.
Matchups
The matchups for Pidgeot are still odd since anything you trade hits with (assuming you get ideal draws) is pretty much an auto win and anything that can OHKO you will be an auto loss. The auto loss matchups aren't Pidgeot exclusive either since Mega Ray does what it does to Pidgeot that is does to Turbo Dark and Volcanion does a thing but in my experience, you either win the match 2-0 or you lose 0-2 or you get a draw. There aren't many times I've played where I went 2-1 in a match and when I did, it was because I bricked.
Turbo Dark
This match, assuming things go right is very favorable since you can hit them back for large damage while keeping Energy of the board because of Mach Cyclone. The match is very scary since they can get going quickly but your deck has the tech and tools to just 6-0 this deck.
This match normally comes down to how risky you want to play (not playing Max Potion to heal 60 damage and risking the KO next turn on a Pidgeot), how often Max Elixir hits and how often you can find a Max potion. If you play well and find the cards you need, you should be just fine but if you start slow, then things become rocky.
Water Toolbox
Another rocky match that can be favorable. I've yet to lose a competitive match to this deck though it can happen. A game happened where I was behind four Prize cards before even getting a Mega Pidgeot out, though I still won in the end. The thing here was I couldn't use Magearna-EX since it would have been an easy target for Lysandre so I had to eat an unnecessary Ice Beam GX, though it wasn't costly. A fast Lapras-GX with a Fighting Fury Belt can hit for 170 damage, which will KO Pidgeot-EX in a single hit which can happen in the early game. I found myself just playing a Max Potion to heal a damaged Pidgeot just so I can Mega Evolve, missing my Mirror Move for the turn but as soon as I build up a few Mega Pidgeot we get favorable trades since they can't OHKO them. The best thing here is even after they use Rough Seas to heal, they are still in KO range for Mach Cyclone.
The scary thing here is all the support water is getting but the game plan is to get a lot of mega burds out quickly and hit Lapras first before they hit you. Doing this puts trades in your favor since you can respond with a Mirror Move. Getting a lot of Pidgeot-EX down early means you'll get at least two M Pidgeot-EX out during the game and in all the games I've played against this deck, they were all I needed for the entire match. Once you do get this setup, the matchup becomes a little less scary.
Vileplume Variants
These are always a crap-shoot. If they get a Vileplume into play quickly, you can cheese out wins because they lose all of their options as soon as it comes into play. Mirror Move is surprisingly effective, though it sucks you can't use Items and that means you can't play Max Potion.
It really depends on how well you draw and how effective N is against your opponent. The worst thing here is to trade your Mirror Moves for free and this really does suck.
Solgaleo-GX Variants
You generally just lose to these decks. Solgaleo-GX has the ability to OHKO Mega Pidgeot, which is annoying. Dragon variants also like using Sol Burst GX because they can get their Energy into play and these decks often run Darkrai-EX, which is why I favor Skarmory. The other build runs Lurantis-GX and it lets Solgaleo-GX use Sunsteel Strike as much as it wants, which Pidgeot hates.
If you can keep Cosmog of the board, then it becomes much more favorable. I've done this a few times but it doesn't happen often so I consider it an auto loss.
One thing I did notice is if you can hit the Solgaleo-GX first and can follow up with the KO the second hit, then you should be good. It really does matter where they place the Energy with their GX attack because if you can drop one, things get better for the match. The thing that sucks here is you have to pretty much trade two Prize cards just to set one up for a knockout. Mega Pidgeot's 130 damage is super nice here because it will 2HKO them. If this deck plays Max Potion, then you should just sign the match slip because you aren't winning. This is Pokemon so anything can happen but I have little faith in that.
Yveltal-EX / Garbodor
Just like before, the scaling here can be a problem but once an Yveltal-EX goes down, so does a lot of Energy. Some builds run Exp. Share, which we can cheese but Garbodor is always an equalizing factor. Assuming we get hit hard, we can just Lysandre it up and Mirror Move / Mach Cyclone to get rid of it. We have our items but the loss of Octillery's Ability does hurt since we need to be careful about any lead we take. This deck isn't played as much because Turbo Dark is just better.
Dark Dragons
It's just get a bunch of special Energy down and hit hard with Dark Pulse. The match is much the same though we have to play smart with Mega Pidgeot since Giratina-EX's Ability blocks all damage and effects of attacks done by Mega Evolved Pokemon. You fight the Darkrai-EX when you can with M Pidgeot-EX and you fight Giratina-EX with Pidgeot-EX. In this match you want to play your Double Colorless when you can because chances are you won't be able to play them so saving your basic metal Energy for Max Potion Mirror Move plays should be priority. If you can get a Silent Lab down, then things should be good but knockout the Pokemon with the Energy and you win.
Volcanion-EX
This deck shows up from time to time and it is powerful. If you go first and get Energy into play, you can more than likely take a KO on the next turn. Field Blower removes bulk making Mach Cyclone's 130 printed damage a dangerous move for the opponent since these decks often get two Power heat off because of the 170 HP being hard to take down in one blow. If you can keep the Volcanion-EX from getting too big, they have to trade blows with your Mirror Move. The deck is still scary since it can just have everything and take a knockout on Mega Pidgeot every turn and there's nothing you can do about it. Silent Lab here is very good to have since most Volcanion decks play zero to three Stadium cards, meaning you'll win the Stadium war so keeping a Silent Lab in play means things are in your favor.
M Rayquaza-EX
They just knock you out in one hit each turn. The deck is super-fast and you have to hope they miss or Prize key cards... Just like Night March!
Where Does Pidgeot Fit in This Meta?
This is hard to say. The meta went back to one-hit kills and with GX attacks around, you have to be aware of random nukes, all of which Pidgeot doesn't like since our goal is to tank a hit, heal and respond with Mirror Move. A lot of the meta still wants to trade blows with you, which Pidgeot does well against but the game is starting to become more lock based again, which prevents the use of cards you need.
Pidgeot is in an odd limbo for me because my only really bad match is anything that can OHKO us and maybe Mega Mewtwo but this is really it. I do feel Pidgeot does its best against anything else that can't OHKO it so it sits right in the middle of the meta saying "I'm here everyone". It's not exactly like M Scizor-EX who just can't find its place in the meta but you can take M Pidgeot-EX to a tournament and get results with it.
I guess all I can say is if your meta isn't full of OHKO decks (like mine is), then give it a try and see what happens. Maybe build it for your league and have it as a fun deck. The deck does have a very high skill curve so it might not be right for everyone but it is fun and if tempo is your play style, then you'll have fun playing this deck. Pidgeot to me just feels like a deck that wins every matchup but a few outright. There are only a handful of matches I fear simply because of how volatile they can be. A perfect example of this is against Volcanion where it could be slow all game but then get the right set of cards and just go off. I can tell you no one likes playing against Pidgeot-EX.
Summary
I've spent a lot of time playing M Pidgeot-EX and learned a lot. The Pidgeot deck is just as unstable as the B-2. Octillery, like the computers on board the bomber stabilizes it and when things go right, boy do they flow but should an error happen, things go south quickly but you have to do your best to stay flying or you crash and burn. The game favors damage scaling and Item lock decks and Pidgeot is somewhere in the middle trying to find its way between its good and bad matchups. The deck gets better when Guardians Raising drops and I'll do more testing with a deck built to support Mallow. We are playing Pidgeot-EX till it rotates people!
Thank you for reading! #Vileplume / Decidueye-GX / Sableye
Crystal_Pidgeot
Last edited: