Standard Speed Serperior/Balloons

[rayquazatopaz34]

The Card:



The List:

4 Snivy

3 Servine

3 Serperior

2 Shaymin EX

2 Trubbish

1 Garbodor

1 Jirachi XY Promo


Pokémon – 16


4 Professor Sycamore

2 N

2 Lysandre

1 Pokémon Ranger

1 Giovanni’s Scheme

1 Teammates

4 VS Seeker

4 Ultra Ball

4 Trainers’ Mail

4 Level Ball

4 Bursting Balloon

2 Float Stone

2 Forest of Giant Plants

2 Super Rod

1 Escape Rope


Trainers – 38


6 Grass Energy


Energy – 6


General Strategy: Set up Serperior ASAP and set up a T1 Coil after attaching Bursting Balloon. Win prize trades against heavy attackers while attempting to avoid OHKO’s and/or taking favourable prize trades. Set up Garbodor if necessary (Volcanion, Rayquaza, Yanmega, Greninja etc.)


How: When Serperior is paired with Bursting Balloon, it can 2HKO the meta. Coil base 40 attack that makes the next move from Serperior deal +60 damage. Slashing Strike next turn for 140. Paired with ballon, this deals 240 damage. Note that serperiors Coil only affects the active, so they can switch out of it if they’re smart.


Card Explinations:

4-3-3: I could run 4-4-3, but I would rather cut one Servine for fun techs like Jirachi Promo and Escape Rope. I also only need to run 4-3-3 because I run 2 super rod, and with Level Ball/Ultra Ball/Draw Support/Forest, I can get a Serperior set up in 1 turn.


Jirachi: Fun tech that trolls with Ray, DarkTinaGarb and other special energy reliant decks.


4-2 Sycamore-n: I tend to have a much more aggressive and fast play style, thus I run 4-2. N is for disruption, conservation in late game, and having 5 energies in hand (not wanting to discard).


Giovanni: Extra damage when I don't have Balloon or need 20 more damage to KO a Fury Belted Baby Volcanion.


Pokémon Ranger: Strange that I’m explaining right? Other than Glaceon locks, why fret? Pokémon ranger removes the effect of Serperior Slashing strike 1 Turn Ban. The card reads, ‘This pokémon cannot use slashing strike on your next turn’. Ranger removes that effect.


Teammates: To fish for resources to set up another Serperior or to speed up damage (grabbing balloons/energy/garbodor & friends)


2 Forest of Giant Memes: For the speed that I plan on running the deck, I only need 2. As long as I have one up on Turn 1/2 I’m fine. Late game evolutions can set up behind an active Serperior if necessary.

I've thought about cutting 1 Grass Energy for an Eco arm to cycle Ballons, but I'm not sure at the moment.


Anything helps. Thanks.

 

[CaptZero]

It's interesting but does it really do enough damage? At best you're only doing 140 every other turn, and Serperior doesn't have enough HP to deal with most of the meta. At the very least having only one Forest of Giant Plants isn't going to be enough. You're going to need to stream attackers and your Forest is likely to get discarded. You should also have Parallel City or something too to get rid of large benches.

 

[Ivy_Profen]

Idk if playing garbodor is worth it. especially with servine's ability being so good. possibly put hex instead. with the extra space you can add revitalizer.

Maybe 1 more energy. since it is possible to prize all of ur energy with only 6. as unlikely as it maybe. that's a terrible way to lose

You could also try 1 or 2 talonflame for more basics. great starter, not weak to fire, free retreat, and grab any 2 cards.

 

[rayquazatopaz34]

It's interesting but does it really do enough damage? At best you're only doing 140 every other turn, and Serperior doesn't have enough HP to deal with most of the meta. At the very least having only one Forest of Giant Plants isn't going to be enough. You're going to need to stream attackers and your Forest is likely to get discarded. You should also have Parallel City or something too to get rid of large benches.

Thank you for the input.

Damage wise, I believe that Serperior does do enough damage. Dealing 40 with coil, boosting slashing strike by 60, and then slashing strike for 140. thats 180 damage in 2 turns. When paired with bursting balloon, this deals 240 damage. Serperiors' 140 hp dodges a lot of OHKO's in the meta (FFB Giratina-EX, M-Scizor, Darkrai needs 6 energy in play (meh), M-Mewtwo needs 5 energy in play etc.).

I also run 2 Forest of Giant Plants. As long as I can set one up within 2 turns, i can set up 2-2-2 serperior bench/active.

If I were to run parallel city, what should I cut?

Idk if playing garbodor is worth it. especially with servine's ability being so good. possibly put hex instead. with the extra space you can add revitalizer.

Maybe 1 more energy. since it is possible to prize all of ur energy with only 6. as unlikely as it maybe. that's a terrible way to lose

You could also try 1 or 2 talonflame for more basics. great starter, not weak to fire, free retreat, and grab any 2 cards.

Thanks for the advice.

I personally enjoy running Garbodor for late game (turn 3/4 on) after I have set up as many serperior as possible (usually 2 or 3). Garb also helps turn the volcanion matchup into a non-auto loss. I also see no need for revitaliser with the ball and draw support count. Super rod also recycles energy.

I will try to find space for 1/2 talonflame.

Thanks

 

[Fayld]

With this deck, you are going to want 3-4 Revitalizers in there. They are light years better than super rod for getting your snakes set back up. About the only reason to run super rod in this deck is to get energy and TBH, I would rather run an energy retrieval for it here as well. You know what they say, a bird in hand is better than one in your deck. Ok, no one says that, but the point is that both of these items give you your cards back to your hand rather than into your deck allowing you to instantly play them.

Also, I tend to agree with the other poster that the Garb line is probably more counter productive than helpful. The only thing better than 2 shotting an EX using balloon + attack is 2 shotting it without taking a hit. Servine lets you do that 50% of the time.

Finally, you are going to want an Eco Arm in there somewhere. Those balloons are important!