Expanded Do the Stanky Leg (Elemental Monkeys/Salazzle)

[legolover322]

Hello everyone, and welcome to perhaps the most degenerate deck you may ever see! Though I have made a deck like this before, back when Sun and Moon sets were just releasing, the deck did not function nearly as well (I will explain why this is later). With the release of several crucial cards from Unbroken Bonds, I think that this deck has absolutely incredible potential to do well, if given a few tweaks.

Pokémon - 17

* 4 Salandit DRM
* 4 Salazzle UNB 31
* 3 Pansage KSS 2
* 3 Simisage BKT 6
* 1 Jirachi-EX PLB 60
* 1 Panpour KSS 11
* 1 Simipour BKT 42

Trainer Cards - 29

* 1 Heat Factory {*} LOT 178
* 4 Professor's Letter XY 123
* 4 Welder UNB 189
* 1 Brigette BKT 134
* 4 Evosoda XY 116
* 1 Brock's Grit TEU 135
* 4 Fire Crystal UNB 173
* 1 Pal Pad FLF 92
* 1 Guzma BUS
* 1 Scorched Earth FCO 110
* 3 Fiery Torch FLF 89
* 4 Level Ball NXD 89

Energy - 14

* 14 Fire Energy XYEnergy 4

Total Cards - 60

For anyone who does not know, both Simisage BKT and Simipour BKT have an attack called Hand Fling which, for two Colorless energy, can deal ten damage for each card in one's hand. An excellent partner for this is Salazzle from Unbroken Bonds, which allows for you to discard a Fire Energy from your hand in order to draw three more cards. Since this ability can stack, it can allow for some nutty draw and damage for just a meager two of any energy. In order to power up our monkeys instantly, we run Welder, which allows for two Fire Energy to be attached to a Pokemon anywhere on our field, as well as draw three additional cards. Both effects are crucial, as it allows for a monkey to be powered up instantly, as well as draw cards to replace the amount of "hand" lost from the attachment process. Sacred Ash, Energy Recycler, and Brock's Grit seem like risky recovery options, but due to the insane draw power of Salazzle, it is practically guaranteed that one will draw exactly what they need. Additionally, these shuffle cards put cards back into the deck to be drawn earlier in the game, and ensure that you do not deck out in the late game. Jirachi-EX seems like a strange choice, but it has the benefit of being searchable via Level Ball, which is the primary search engine of the deck (Ultra Ball requires one to discard two cards from their hand, plus play the card itself, resulting in a net loss of three cards from one's hand). Fire Crystal is an Energy Retrieval on crack, allowing for a net "hand" gain of two cards. Fiery Torch allows for more draw power and card cycling, plus the added bonus that the energy can be retrieved in many different places during the match, rendering it a pseudo "draw two cards". Pal Pad allows for one to recycle Welder in the late game, and the Jirachi-EX/Brigette combo is absolutely incredible for helping to get out all of one's benched Pokemon early (which can easily lead into two/three Salazzle on turn two, and gaining tons of tempo). Professor's Letter allows for one to grab vital Fire Energy from the deck, as well as create a net "hand" gain of one card.

Though this deck seems unstoppable, it does have a few weaknesses; most glaringly, any opponent can force you to shuffle your hand and draw a specific number of cards. However, this is offset by the fact that you can keep activating your Salazzle and Stadiums in order to redraw all of the lost cards. Additionally, N sees a much lessened amount of play now, due to the presence of other powerful draw support, such as Zoroark-GX, Lillie, Welder, Colress, Erika's Hospitality, Professor Sycamore, and, most notably, Cynthia. If you get N'd in the early game, don't be discouraged; this deck is designed with drawing tons of cards, both constantly and instantly, in mind. Additionally, this deck is hit hard by Item and Ability lock. Though Ability lock is not useful against this deck in the late game, it can be devastating if you have not built up your hand yet. However, the caveat to this weakness is that a lot of Ability-locking techs do not work against this deck; anything outside of a hard Wobbuffet, Greninja, or Garbodor (and Hex Maniac too lol) will not touch your Salazzle. Item lock is much more problematic for this deck, as cards such as Trevanant BREAK will be able to reduce your Bench to nothing with FOUR Silent Fears, as well as shut off access to cards like Fire Crystal, Professor's Letter, Evosoda, and more. This deck is very, very afraid of "The Tree".

This deck does have an impressive amount of things going for it as well! For starters, all of your attackers give up only one prize, meaning that the prize trade is often in your favor. Additionally, the amount of damage this deck can do is absolutely absurd; in the late game, expect to have the capacity to even take out mighty TAG TEAM GXs, such as PikaRom and Zoroninja, in one fell swoop (cards like ReshiZard are a little tougher, but increasing one's Simipour count will allow for one to hit for Weakness and render their big, shiny, broken card to nothing). One-of techs work great in this deck as well, due to the insane draw power of this deck. Finally, this deck is incredibly cheap, which is hilarious considering its speed, recovery, and damage output. Though getting one's hands on Jirachi-EX and Heat Factory might seem daunting, it really shouldn't break your bank to make this deck. Overall, I highly recommend this deck if one wants to stomp others with a four year old "Filler Rare". Have fun, get crazy draws, swing for mad damage, and nae-nae people into the Shadow Realm with your monkeys!

P.S.: Let me know about modifications for this deck in the comments; I've been itching to add a copy or two of Guzma into this deck, but I'm not sure about what to trade out.

 

[legolover322]

So, a bit of an update for this deck:
+1 Pal Pad
+1 Guzma
-1 Energy Recycler
-1 Sacred Ash

The Supporter line has been altered in order to yield the highest impact of late-game. With two Pal Pads, it is now possible to potentially play three Guzmas AND three Brock’s Grit. Adding an additional Pal Pad has made it even easier to extend your Monkeys into the late game, as well as incorporate the powerful gusting effect of Guzma (as I realized that stuff like Glaceon-EX is an autoloss lol). Simply put, Energy Recycler and Sacred Ash are redundant if one is able to Welder/Guzma on turns when they need to be proactive, and then Brock’s Grit when they have achieved their setup.

-2 Fiery Torch
+1 Scorched Earth
+1 Evosoda

This is a change that I am not too certain about (stated later), but I think is the right choice; Fiery Torch and Scorched Earth have an identical effect, so why not just run more of the potentially-permanent Stadium? Also, maxing the Evosoda line is critical in order to better achieve the desired minimum of two Salazzle in play by Turn 2.

Ultimately, this deck absolutely DOMINATES in the late game, as it just seems to have absolutely everything: heavy amounts of draw, good recovery, one-prize attackers that set up incredibly fast, and the potential to deal nearly three-hundred damage for very little investment. However, this deck mainly struggles in achieving a good setup. It is all too often that I will draw an opening hand of something like this: Salandit, Fire Crystal, Pal Pad, Simisage, three Fire Energy. I believe that potentially reinvigorating my Fiery Torch count could greatly help to improve a very unstable early game that could easily be destroyed when dealt a bad hand. Could anyone give me some help with minimizing and/or coping with bad opening hands? Thank you in advance.

 

[legolover322]

I have been tweaking this deck for the past couple of weeks, and it just seems to be more and more promising! However, there were two changes that had to be made:

-1 Scorched Earth
-1 Pal Pad
+2 Fiery Torch

Fiery Torch is back on the menu! Though Scorched Earth does have the potential to stay in play for long amounts of time, I find that the utility of being able to draw multiple Fiery Torch meant that it was possible to chain them together and yield an easier Turn 2 burst that makes this deck so strong. I am still choosing to run one copy of Scorched Earth so that I do have some answer just in case my Heat Factory goes down.

-4 Salandit GRI
+4 Salandit DRM

This change is one that I am shocked that I did not make earlier, as this version of Salandit is strictly better. Though this version has 10 less HP than its predecessor, it does boast a much more usable attack in the form of Call for Family, which, for one Colorless Energy, can search your deck for a Basic and put it onto your Bench. It's not ideal, but it is much better than the measly 10 damage of GRI Salandit.

The more I play this deck, the more that I become apparent of its flaws. Though this deck boasts the ability to play lots of single-prize attackers, it does fall short in the sense that Jirachi-EX can be dragged up to the active at practically any point and allow for my opponent to close out the game much faster than I would like. Additionally, late game Ns and Reset Stamps (this card is likely to be banned in future Expanded though, so I'll be glad for that!) can act as a win condition against this deck if one takes their Prize Cards too quickly. Finally, I feel that this deck does struggle against some Tag Team GXes, particularly ones with higher health, such as ReshiZard, LucariMetal, and MarChamp. I have a few cards that I would like to squeeze into this deck to counter this, if at all possible:

Cassius (XY): Cassius, for those who do not know, allows for one to shuffle one of their Pokemon and all cards attached to it back into their deck. While this card typically saw play in stall-based decks in the past (before being powercrept by AZ and, eventually, Acerola), I feel that it is good because its functionality is twofold; first, it allows for one to remove the Jirachi-EX from play, which is invaluable on its own. Secondly, it allows for one to place this card back into their deck so as to avoid decking out in the late game. The only downfall to this card is that it is absolutely useless if drawn early in the game, and it may not even be used late game due to the fact that the player will likely have to fire off Brock's Grit and Welder constantly to stay in the game. Perhaps there is an Item card that can replicate these invaluable effects?

Salazzle-GX (BUS): Salazzle-GX has a natural fit in this deck due to the fact that all of its attacks cost exactly two Fire Energy, meaning that a single Welder is enough to get it up and rolling. Additionally, we are already running four copies of Salandit, meaning that it oftentimes is ready to be played. For those who do not know, Salazzle gets more powerful going into the late game due to the fact that it deals more damage the more prize cards one has taken. This synergizes well with this deck, as Simisage, though powerful in the late game, is hit especially hard by a late game N... until Salazzle-GX is at the ready with 200 damage available! Though it does have the annoying restriction of yielding two Prize Cards upon death, I feel that it can even be used in this deck's favor to play the frustrating "seven-prize game", and force the opponent to take extra prizes. After all, if one is down to a single-prize anyway, then the fact that Salazzle yields two Prize Cards means absolutely nothing. Simply put, by the time the opponent realizes what I am doing, Salazzle should have the opportunity to close out the game.

Timer Ball (SUM): Though appearing to be little more than a higher risk, higher reward Evosoda, the fact that Timer Ball places the Evolution cards into the hand could prove useful. For instance, if one is able to flip two heads on Timer Ball, then they could potentially evolve two of their Pokemon instead, or just keep an Evolution in their hand, or even just put both Evolutions into their hand in an attempt to thin their deck and yield more consistent draws. Timer Ball is certainly worth a second look in a deck like this.

Celesteela-GX (UNB): Celesteela-GX seems pretty tame, but it's GX attack could prove to be incredibly useful in the early game, as it allows for a player to take all of their Prize Cards, and replace them with the top six cards of their deck, functioning as a pseudo-draw-six-cards. Additionally, all of its attacks cost Colorless Energy, meaning that Welder works great to power it up. However, it is yet another liability in the late game, which could prove to be troublesome in especially grindy matches.

That's all I have for you guys today. Thank you for reading this update, and let me know if you have any critiques or suggestions!