Semi-competitive Night March Deck! (Mew EX / Pumpkaboo / Joltik)

[LoneWolf2113]

Pokemon: - 20

• 
  2 Mew EX LTR
  4 Joltik (I don't know what the abbreviation for Phantom Forces is so I'll go with PHF) PHF
  4 Lampent PHF
  4 Pumpkaboo PHF
  3 Gourgeist PHF
  1 Celebi EX BCR
  1 Virizion EX PLB
  1 Mr. Mime PLF

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: - 29

• 
  4 Sycamore
  4 N
  2 Colress
  1 Lysandre
  2 Skyla
  3 Dimensional Valley
  1 Computer Search
  3 Battle Compressor
  4 Ultra Ball
  3 Muscle Band
  2 Startling Megaphone

Energy: - 11

• 
  4 Double Colorless Energy
  4 Grass Energy
  3 Mystery Energy

Strategy:
Ok so for those that don't know, 3 new Pokemon (Joltik, Lampent, and Pumpkaboo) from the upcoming Phantom Forces set have the attack "Night March" which does 20 damage times the number of Pokemon in your discard pile with Night March. So my strategy here is to get as many Pokemon with Night March in my discard pile as quickly as possible through the use of Sycamore, Battle Compressor, Ultra Ball, and Computer Search. Then hit for a bunch of damage with my main attacker, Gourgeist.

Now, you may be thinking, wait, Gourgeist doesn't have the Night March attack. That's Where Celebi EX comes in. Celebi EX's time recall allows Gourgeist to use Pumpkaboo's attacks as well as its own. I also ave another useful grass type Pokemon, Virizion EX. Virizion's Verdant Wind allows for no Special Conditions to affect Pokemon with Grass Energy attached to them AND Gourgeist's Gourgantic Ability makes it to where Gourgeist has 200 HP if it has a grass energy attached to it, meaning 200 HP for Gourgeist, plus the inability of my opponent to hit me with special conditions. Mr. Mime Blocks Damage from Landorus EX.

Dimensional Valley for 1 less energy when attacking and Mystery Energy for a fewer retreat cost on my Gourgeist. Battle Compressor and Ultra Ball to get Night Marchers in the discard pile along with Computer Search as my ACE SPEC of choice. Muscle Band to boost damage along with Megaphone to prevent cards like Garbodor to not cancel my abilities.

Thanks in advance for the input, guys!

LoneWolf2113

 

[Loli Bacon]

I'm playing this deck at the moment as well. It's extremely solid! I have a couple differences, though.

+1 Battle Compressor - This card is your bread and butter and gets you the damage you need
-1 Computer Search, +1 Dowsing Machine - More discard, get rid of those pesky Lampents in your hand
-2 N - I'll explain in a second
+1 Shauna - You'll be knocking out everything so fast, N is detrimental. Use Shauna
+1 Pokemon Fan Club - Get those pokemon out super fast
+1 Trevor - This card is amazing as a one of.
-2 Ultra Ball - Dowsing Machine does this anyway, and you mostly run basics; get those fan clubs rolling
+1 Celebi EX - Consistency, consistency, consistency
-1 Mystery Energy - This energy is only ever gonna be used in order to retreat, seeing as all of your costed attacks are Emerald Slash or Whisk Away. If you're using Horror Note, you made a mistake.
-2 Skyla - If you're playing a supporter for the turn to find a battle compressor or anything else important, Juniper/Sycamore do it better.
+2 Grass Energy - Emerald Slash for acceleration. Use Mew to get it up with Dimension Valley.
-1 Muscle Band - Muscle band is just another discarded pokemon in this sense, but it would be better suited as...
+1 Virizion EX - Again, Consistency. Get that Emerald Slash turn 1 for the acceleration

I think the list could use more Fan Club, but I'm still in the testing phases. Earlier today, someone Trump Carded me, and I was able to combo enough pokemon into my discard to resume doing 160 damage on my next turn directly after getting Trumped.

 

[My Little Keldeo]

I'm agreeing with Loli Bacon's suggestions. My question though is how much of a necessity Mew-EX is in here. Since Mew only "borrows" attacks, it can't count as a Night Marcher itself, and with only 120 HP it's a very fragile EX that can become a very easy two prizes. I don't really see a need to play it, especially since Gourgeist is a non-EX that gains a whopping 200 HP once a Grass Energy is attached. The pride of this deck should be streaming one-prize attackers to wear down the opponent and make them take six prizes the long way.

I do think we can cut the fourth Ultra Ball in favor of an additional copy of Lysandre or Megaphone, your pick. Garbodor is this deck's worst enemy, and is so common in the metagame that you need a consistent way to beat it if you're not playing the big ol' trashbag yourself. On the plus side, Joltik is sure to do a good number on Yveltal for little cost, and give up one prize in return.

 

[totodile_it_down]

Xerosic to get around Seismitoad/Garbodor which is likely to remain extremely popular. VS Seeker to get the Xerosic and Lysandre out of discard to eliminate Garbodor and other psy-weak pokemon even more quickly.

 

[Pipotchi]

In all night march decks i think you need a town map to see which night marchers are prized.

 

[Loli Bacon]

In all night march decks i think you need a town map to see which night marchers are prized.

Battle Compressor lets you know which are prized, and seeing as how this deck attacks so quickly, you will generally get the prizes fast enough for it not to matter.

In regards to why Mew EX is necessary: Fast attacks. Insanely fast attacks. It gives more attackers while allowing the Night Marchers to go into the discard. Mew EX also copies Emerald Slash for a single G when Dimension Valley is up, allowing you to accelerate and thin the deck out even more. In addition, Mew EX copies Seismitoad EX to set the lock up on your opponent as well while you set up. Mew EX can X Ball a Mewtwo EX and kill it. All of these are for 1 energy with Dimension Valley. Where Mew EX really shines though is as a Night Marcher. I've been playing this deck these past two days almost religiously and I must say that Mew EX is a massive threat when dropped. It may be easy prizes if they have the attacker for it, but anything doing that much damage to KO Mew EX is packing on the energy pretty hard and will subsequently lose that energy to the next Night Marcher you put up. For instance, played against a friend's M Kangaskhan/Aromatisse deck. They played Trump Card to slow me, hit Mew EX with Break through for 60 + 30 to Gourgeist on the bench. On my turn, I Battle Compressor 3 Lampent > Ultra Ball away jank + Joltik, grab Lampent > Dousing Machine away Lampent + Jank for Battle Compressor > Battle Compressor 2 Joltik, 1 Pumpkaboo > Joltik on my bench, Dimension valley in play. Mew EX hits for 160 without Muscle Band in this scenario and if it dies, Joltik/Gourgeist go up to the active and one shot their next EX. This is all for a single energy loss on your Mew and however energy lost on their EX. If the threat is too great for Mew without a positive trade, Mystery Energy gives it free retreat so that it can attack later.

Also, forgot to mention. Add 2 VS Seeker. VS Seeker > Fan Club > Get two night marchers > Ultra ball them away for Gourgeist > make your opponent cry.

 

[My Little Keldeo]

Mew-EX still requires the full energy cost for using the attack of any non-(P) Pokemon, even with Dimension Valley in play. Mew's only attack is Replace. Versatile lets it "borrow" the attacks of other Pokemon in play, but since the attack is not printed on Mew-EX, the energy requirements come of the original card. You can still copy Mewtwo-EX's X-Ball for a single (C ) however, since that's a (P) type, but Toad and Virizion still need the full requirement, unless you were to somehow change their types. I can understand how Mew-EX gives you speed, but I think it's a big risk, especially if your opponent is playing Garbodor. Speed Lugia (along with other Plasma variants) are dying off, but if you encounter one their response to Mew will be a friendly handshake and a thank you for the easy three prizes.

What I really like about Night March is the bonus of having two types to attack with, Lightning and Psychic. The fact that Joltik, a 30 HP basic, can OHKO Yveltal-EX with just five Marchers in the discard is hilarious. It's also cool that Gourgeist can get more HP than a non-Mega Pokemon-EX, and is still just one prize. These two feel like the stars of the show to me.

 

[Kecleon-X]

I agree, Loli. I quite like the idea of Mew in this deck.

But as for the list and from what I've faced of the Gourgeist variant, I find that Gourgeist is actually somewhat subpar to the streamlined list of Night March as it doesn't need to worry about having to play Megaphones or something of the sort in order to attack. As things normally go, a streamlined variant is more consistent than a variant that focuses on the late game.

I'm noticing you're not running any VS Seeker. As per what Loli Bacon previously stated, VS Seeker for Fan Club turn one is amazing because you can Battle Compressor the Fan Club, then VS Seeker for it to get two Night Marchers or to not get benched. Here's what I'd take out for these cards and a few others:

-3 Gourgeist
-1 Celebi EX (For reasons stated prior about streamlining)
-1 Virizion EX (You won't need the Grass Energy)
-4 Grass Energy
-2 Startling Megaphone (For reasons stated prior about Gourgeist and Celebi really being one of the only reasons you run this, as Mew is a great side attacker but not the main.)

+4 Bicycle (You will be burning your hand to nothing quite a lot, so you'll need the draw power.)
+4 VS Seeker (For reasons stated prior about being able to snag a lot of useful Supporters from the discard pile.)
+1 Pokemon Fan Club (Again, because turn one this is great, and you get this with VS Seeker after you Battle Compressor it. Amazing, really.)
+1 Xerosic (If you need to discard a tool, use this, but I like Xerosic to where you don't lose to Seismitoad. Plus, you can use it troll with your opponent if need be. Either way, you can change this to whatever you want -- even a Pokemon Center Lady if you find yourself amongst dozens of lasers everywhere you look -- but I would prefer the Xerosic.)
+1 Battle Compressor (Consistency.)

Now, unlike Loli Bacon, I would keep the Computer Search. You're not going to be running that many Energy in this, and as all of them are Special Energy, I would think that Computer Search would be the best option if you wish to get them out of the deck and onto your Pokemon. But as things go with the reprint of Enhanced Hammer, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to swap those Mystery Energy for something more Basic, perhaps even Fighting Energy as to abuse Fighting Decks and their attacks with Mew if you absolutely had to.

 

[Loli Bacon]

Mew-EX still requires the full energy cost for using the attack of any non-(P) Pokemon, even with Dimension Valley in play. Mew's only attack is Replace. Versatile lets it "borrow" the attacks of other Pokemon in play, but since the attack is not printed on Mew-EX, the energy requirements come of the original card. You can still copy Mewtwo-EX's X-Ball for a single (C ) however, since that's a (P) type, but Toad and Virizion still need the full requirement, unless you were to somehow change their types. I can understand how Mew-EX gives you speed, but I think it's a big risk, especially if your opponent is playing Garbodor. Speed Lugia (along with other Plasma variants) are dying off, but if you encounter one their response to Mew will be a friendly handshake and a thank you for the easy three prizes.

What I really like about Night March is the bonus of having two types to attack with, Lightning and Psychic. The fact that Joltik, a 30 HP basic, can OHKO Yveltal-EX with just five Marchers in the discard is hilarious. It's also cool that Gourgeist can get more HP than a non-Mega Pokemon-EX, and is still just one prize. These two feel like the stars of the show to me.

I don't think this ruling is correct. If it is, it creates complicated scenarios in which a Head Ringer Seismitoad EX would make Mew EX pay 3 if Mew copied the attack. Likewise, a Mew EX wouldn't have an increased cost if Head Ringer was attached to it and it copied someone else's attack. The simplest answer is to add modifiers after selecting the attack, which is what Pokemon does anyway in its attack steps. The ruling is already posed by Professor staff in a query to Japan, so we'll see when they respond, but I think copying the attack and then modifying costs and bonuses is the correct way.

 

[Mora]

Fact Finding Mission:

Link

Okay, carry on!

 

[Loli Bacon]

Fact Finding Mission:

Da link

Okay, carry on!

I still don't think that ruling is correct. I have friends who are Professors who are torn on how it would work, simply because the combination of the effects of the cards is so ambiguous and awkward. Again, a query has been sent to Japan and they're working on it.

 

[Loli Bacon]

Sorry to necro up this thread, but some news. Current Japanese Rulings on Mew EX + Dimension Valley is that Mew EX gets the cost reduction from use with Versatile.

Source: PTCG in Japan on Facebook.

 

[Kecleon-X]

You're fine -- it hasn't been thirty days yet!