Gyarados AOR 21/98 has an attack whose damage increases with each damage counter on a benched Magikarp.
The primary focus of the deck is to first get Team Magma's Secret Base, which deals 2 damage counters to each basic pokemon played from either player's hand, into play, then bench every Magikarp to boost the damage output of Gyarados' attack Full Retaliation to 210.
4 Magikarp
3 Gyarados AT
3 Un own AOR 30/98
2 Remoraid BKT 32/162
2 Octillery BKT 33/162
1 Shaymin EX RSK 77/108
3 Professor Sycamore
2 N
2 Misty's Determination
1 Archie's Ace in the Hole
4 Dive Ball
4 Ultra Ball
2 Level Ball
2 Super Rod
2 Buddy Buddy Rescue
4 Trainer's Mail
3 VS Seeker
1 Town Map
3 Team Magma's Secret Base
2 Bursting Balloon
2 Fighting Fury Belt
1 Float Stone
2 Rainbow Energy
4 Double Colourless Energy
As a note, Magikarp is in both Ancient Origins and Generations with the hilariously ineffective Epic Splash attack, Evolutions has another version with some synergy, with the Flail attack, which might in some strange situation make a tiny difference to the outcome of a game.
The rationale for some card choices are obvious, but a few choices I struggled with were;
3 Magma Base.
Since the effect happens on my turn, it is only needed on a few big turns, right before a flurry of poke ball usage, a 4th copy might be clutch in some cases but I found I could reliably draw it when I really had to. To that purpose, 2 Misty's, 4 Trainer's Mail and Town Map.
3 Un own.
I considered Talon flame but don't run any basic energy. Also, setup has to be complete on turn 1, basically so that there are more Karl's benched than the opponent can KO in one turn, it provides some draw and can take the active spot to offer an alternative to starting Magikarp. That g8ves you the opportunity to search Secret Base on turn 1 before benching your Karp.
1 Shaymin.
Key inclusion for starts where you haven't managed to bench a Remoraid. The 4 Ultra ball that allow you to search shaymin on turn 1 also work well with Octillery once it is in play. It can be used mid to late game to dig for Secret Base, that extra karp or a double colourless.
2 Fighting Fury Belt-2 Rainbow Energy.
Getting more damage output from each Karp is a great way to hit numbers with Full Retaliation, since Gyarados has the theta double trait, even if you have to evolve a belted karp, you may still attach a useful tool to it, since the now useless belt will still be attached (likely).
2 Super Rod-2 Buddy Buddy Rescue.
Retrieving the karts either with super rod and the ridiculous poke ball engine or buddy buddy rescue let's you immediately recover from knocked out pokemon. I had 2 splash energy at one point, which was excellent for recovering both Gyarados and Magikarp and essentially ensuring that your damage output would remain the same after Gyarados was knocked out, but I found I rarely had the luxury of attaching it when a DCE was needed or the reward of higher damage from rainbow energy was not more enticing .
Archie's has been excellent. With octillery to manipulate your hand size and easy ways to discard Gyarados (dive ball, then ultra ball), it's excellent to be able to have 4 Karps benched and a Gyarados active.
This deck is slowly becoming more consistent.
Please any advice?
Some gross oversights that I have now noticed, no Lysandre. Definitely need to find a spot for that.
Thought about Mr. Mime, but baby Hoops and Bee drill are the only credible threats for bench or spread damage that I can think of and Bee drill needs to have all 4 in play to knock Gyarados, whereas Gyarados only needs 2 Karl's and Base to KO beedrill . starting Mr. Mime stinks.
The primary focus of the deck is to first get Team Magma's Secret Base, which deals 2 damage counters to each basic pokemon played from either player's hand, into play, then bench every Magikarp to boost the damage output of Gyarados' attack Full Retaliation to 210.
4 Magikarp
3 Gyarados AT
3 Un own AOR 30/98
2 Remoraid BKT 32/162
2 Octillery BKT 33/162
1 Shaymin EX RSK 77/108
3 Professor Sycamore
2 N
2 Misty's Determination
1 Archie's Ace in the Hole
4 Dive Ball
4 Ultra Ball
2 Level Ball
2 Super Rod
2 Buddy Buddy Rescue
4 Trainer's Mail
3 VS Seeker
1 Town Map
3 Team Magma's Secret Base
2 Bursting Balloon
2 Fighting Fury Belt
1 Float Stone
2 Rainbow Energy
4 Double Colourless Energy
As a note, Magikarp is in both Ancient Origins and Generations with the hilariously ineffective Epic Splash attack, Evolutions has another version with some synergy, with the Flail attack, which might in some strange situation make a tiny difference to the outcome of a game.
The rationale for some card choices are obvious, but a few choices I struggled with were;
3 Magma Base.
Since the effect happens on my turn, it is only needed on a few big turns, right before a flurry of poke ball usage, a 4th copy might be clutch in some cases but I found I could reliably draw it when I really had to. To that purpose, 2 Misty's, 4 Trainer's Mail and Town Map.
3 Un own.
I considered Talon flame but don't run any basic energy. Also, setup has to be complete on turn 1, basically so that there are more Karl's benched than the opponent can KO in one turn, it provides some draw and can take the active spot to offer an alternative to starting Magikarp. That g8ves you the opportunity to search Secret Base on turn 1 before benching your Karp.
1 Shaymin.
Key inclusion for starts where you haven't managed to bench a Remoraid. The 4 Ultra ball that allow you to search shaymin on turn 1 also work well with Octillery once it is in play. It can be used mid to late game to dig for Secret Base, that extra karp or a double colourless.
2 Fighting Fury Belt-2 Rainbow Energy.
Getting more damage output from each Karp is a great way to hit numbers with Full Retaliation, since Gyarados has the theta double trait, even if you have to evolve a belted karp, you may still attach a useful tool to it, since the now useless belt will still be attached (likely).
2 Super Rod-2 Buddy Buddy Rescue.
Retrieving the karts either with super rod and the ridiculous poke ball engine or buddy buddy rescue let's you immediately recover from knocked out pokemon. I had 2 splash energy at one point, which was excellent for recovering both Gyarados and Magikarp and essentially ensuring that your damage output would remain the same after Gyarados was knocked out, but I found I rarely had the luxury of attaching it when a DCE was needed or the reward of higher damage from rainbow energy was not more enticing .
Archie's has been excellent. With octillery to manipulate your hand size and easy ways to discard Gyarados (dive ball, then ultra ball), it's excellent to be able to have 4 Karps benched and a Gyarados active.
This deck is slowly becoming more consistent.
Please any advice?
Some gross oversights that I have now noticed, no Lysandre. Definitely need to find a spot for that.
Thought about Mr. Mime, but baby Hoops and Bee drill are the only credible threats for bench or spread damage that I can think of and Bee drill needs to have all 4 in play to knock Gyarados, whereas Gyarados only needs 2 Karl's and Base to KO beedrill . starting Mr. Mime stinks.
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