Empoleon

Riskbreakers

The Brilliant Star☆
Member
I haven't been playing for a long time (2-3 months) and I just wanna ask how Empoleon's matcups are gonna be. Assume BW-on format and the Empoleon deck is the EmpoTerra
 
I personally think that empoleon is a pretty strong deck against anything really. It 2hkos everything and abuses max potion. The only problem that will occur is not getting t2 empoleon.
vs Zekeels Even to slightly unfavorable mostly because they can counter terrakion pretty easily
vs Garchomp Even its pretty much a 2hko war unless they get out 2 altarias and use garchomps second attack
vs Hydreigon Even to slightly favorable just ko deinos and use your max potions and terrakions
vs Garbodor/Terrakion IDK just use tool crapper or catcher ko garbodor and you are fine
vs Accelgor/Stuff Favorable to Unfavorable it really depends if they can keep up the lock if they miss it to many times you win if they get t2 everything they need you are probably screwed

That pretty much sums it up its pretty even acros the board with the acception of zekeels. If you go against raikou eels you will have a very hard time because they love abusing max potion as well as 1hko empoleons emolgas and 2hkoing terrakion
 
^ I'm sorry to say that feels overly optimistic. I would love it if Empoleon was that good, but Ekeels is pretty difficult if they restrict there bench size and have many attacks that don't require more than one or 2 Eeletrick. Klinklang/Hydreigon is a horrible matchup considering they can fairly easily restrict their bench size, and you won't be able to kill every single Klink/Deino, even if you mange to get a turn 2 Empoleon with enough benched pokes t do it. After that, if they put an Eviolite on the Darkrai, you will have to hope they have a couple max potion prized, or it Will be a very difficult matchup.
Garchomp wins the 2hko war usually because of the superior consistency, even without Altaria's. With the Accelgor variants it isn't bad because you can Mew ex their Gothitelles.
 
^and I feel this is too pessimistic. While we must consider Klinklang/Zekeels to be highly unfavorable (Due to the electric attackers), Garchomp/Altaria is much in the favor of Empoleon. Just by them existing you 2KO them, and Altarias are hard to keep on the field. Remember that Empoleon has the ability to mow through its deck absurdly fast and gather the catchers it needs to prevent the OHKO from Altarias. Also, Giant Cape warrants the opponent to use 3 Altaria, a situation that's all but impossible against a fast deck like Empoleon.
 
True, that was all worst case scenarios. Garchomp is actualy an even matchup, but the reason I favor it more is the fact that the stage 1 is easier to get out than our stage 2. Empoleons built in draw-power only works if you have the stage 2 out, and is gone once he is killed. Gabite, on the other hand, can just sit on the bench providing suppport until either you get a catcher (and then get hit by the Garchomp) or KO the Garchomp, in which case the Gabite comes up and evolves.
Also, you would not run Giant Cape, you would run Rescue Scarf it is in general a better card, even if it allows Hydreigon to kill you, it is better in more matchups.
 
I've actually seen Stunfisk+Roserade variants of Empoleon floating around and I can honestly say, that's definitely a harder matchup for ZekEel than I give it credit for (more than Terrakion variants).

That early pressure can really be the difference maker as Empoleon can snipe off some baby Eels and even lock some things in place or set up KOs with its sniping. It's not a bad idea to try out but I have no idea if the other matchups would increase. In theory, it should help just as much in the early game against Darkrai/Hydreigon (helped by the fact they don't even play Switch) and the sniping can set up KOs on Garchomp considering they need a pretty big Bench so you'll be able to hit for 120 possibly. Just another option.

dmaster out.
 
Yeah, sorry I didn't make that clear enough haha. Using the Catchers early to take out early support is fine for this deck as it sets up favorable Prize trades later where Catcher is weaker anyway.

dmaster out.
 
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