Thundurus or Zekrom in Eelzone?

petertclo

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Thundurus or Zekrom? And how many of each?

Thundurus has built-in energy acceleration, and can hit 80 for 3 energy discarding only 1 energy. It also has 1 retreat cost while Zekrom has 2.
On the other hand, Zekrom can outrage, and has the magic 130 hp. It can also hit much harder, for 120.

How many of each to use?
 

Celebi23

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Why not both? They're both good for their own reasons. Thundurus is great early game, but Zekrom is better mid game. The counts are up to you. I'd say one or two Zekrom and two or three Thundurus.
 

Simwar

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Personaly I prefer Thundurus. Both because you can retreat without troubles, it's a good starter because you can drag the energy needed for Magnezone out of the deck, and 80 dmg should be enough to get those quick prizes you need before you can blast everything away with Magnezone's Lost Burn. I understand why a lot of people play Zekrom too, but I don't use it in my deck.

^Three Thundurus is way too much. You can play two if you're afraid it's Prized, but usealy one is enough.
If you wanna use both, I'd say one of each is enough. You'll be able to pick the one that's best for you depending on what your opponent plays, and if one of them are prized, it shouldn't be such a big problem using the other choice.
 

Dork Void

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Um, you need to start with Thundurus. I run 3 Thundurus and 2 Zekrom and it works beautifully for me, but I have been considering cutting the Zekrom down to 1 since I only need it mid game and I can search it out with Collector. I wouldn't even consider lowering my Thundurus count as its what keeps the deck working, and is undoubtedly the best starter for the deck imo.
 

petertclo

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How many catchers are usually used in the deck? I go with 3, but I find many people just use 2.
 

Brave Vesperia

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petertclo said:
How many catchers are usually used in the deck? I go with 3, but I find many people just use 2.

I put 3 in mine.

But I would go with both Thundurus and Zekrom, 3 Thundurus is fine, and 1 or 2 Zekrom is okay.
 

Glace

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Both are best for balance. I use two Thundurus and one Zekrom in my deck. Thundurus gets 2 because it can charge itself up, and Zekrom is there for bigger threats.
 

Fluttershy

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I would say (since I am running this deck right now) to go with both Thundurus and Zekrom. I have found it kind of hard to finish off a game by just using Lost Burn. Thundurus is great for early game because he can attack on turn 2, and he sets energy in the discard for Eelektrik to put back on the field. I would say 3.

Zekrom is great aroung the 5th turn. If you can set up a Thundurus first, then stock up a Zekrom, once Thundurus dies, you can send up Zekrom and almost always take 1 prize with him. If he dies, it is fine, because Eelektrik gets the energy back. So I would say 2.

All in all, Zekrom and Thundurus are necessary because they start the game for you. Depending on how many energy you run, it can be hard to finish a 6 prize card game with just Lost Burn because of the high HP Pokemon in the format. Zekrom and Thundurus take a few prizes while not putting the energies in the Los Zone early game.
 

petertclo

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My biggest problem right now is running out of deck space.
Is PlusPower worth the 2 spaces it occupies, and do I need 2 Switch and 3 Catcher?
 

dBlue

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I like 1 Thundrus over 2. This is because I rarely find situations in which I can't get the T1 charge if I want to even with 1 and I find after the first few turns Thundurus is completely pointless to use over Zekrom.
 

petertclo

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EonEye99 said:
I like 1 Thundrus over 2. This is because I rarely find situations in which I can't get the T1 charge if I want to even with 1 and I find after the first few turns Thundurus is completely pointless to use over Zekrom.

Well, how do you get the T1 charge if you start with anything other than Thundurus?
Magnemite has 1 retreat cost, Tynamo 40HP has 1 retreat cost, Zekrom has 2 retreat cost...
 

Celebi23

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Some lists use the free retreat Tynamo and/or multiple Cleffa. That's what I do in mine. You could also up the Switch count, but I think it's more important to have a 2nd Thundurus than it is to have a 3rd Switch.
 

BunnyBuner

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Celebi23 said:
Why not both? They're both good for their own reasons. Thundurus is great early game, but Zekrom is better mid game. The counts are up to you. I'd say one or two Zekrom and two or three Thundurus.

I agree, I think 2 of each is best, especially Thunderous and Zekrom can both beatdown. I would also consider play testing with Tornadus, I think it would work very well, I run a Crobat Prime Deck and I use Tornadus Beatdown, while I can also Energy up everything else.
 

vareki

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I've been finding success with 2 Thundurus and 1 Zekrom, although my teched out Mirror Match build used 0 Thundurus and 3 Zekrom (along with Rocky Helmets and Black Belt. It was a very wierd list) and that worked kind of OK. After all, you don't need Thundurus, but it is such a great asset.
 

Slowbro

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I run 3 Thundurus to maximize the chance of starting with one. The almost guarrantied T2 80 is amazing.
 

adamisclassy

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Zekrom works better in the mirror. I played 2/1 thundurus/zekrom split. Most lists I've seen do this or go 0/2 Zekrom and use the extra space for a consistency card, and extra energy, or an extra switch.
 

petertclo

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After some testing, I have to conclude Thundurus completely sucks. Hitting for 80 is so wimpy and cannot deal with the multitude of threats that have 120hp+. I find that starting with it is overhyped, and I do completely fine starting with say, Tynamo or Magnemite.
Still I use 2 Zekrom/1 Thundurus just in case.
 

Serperior

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I have been testing as well and am finding a Thundurus start is just ok as well. I tried running two and three, and two is definitely the right number.

The Charge and immediate discard with Disaster Bolt rather nice. I like being able to find a different way of getting Energy in the Discard Pile than having to burn through my deck so quickly with Sage's.
 

Glace

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I have also found Thundurus to be lackluster, and not very useful early game. Sure it can charge itself up, but Eeletrik can charge anything up. I think that the main thing that Thundurus has over Zekrom is that Thundurus discards energy. However, through retreating, Junk Arm, and Sage's Training, you are able to get the energy you need into the discard without the use of Thundurus's attack. Zekrom has a more offensive approach to the game, and can deal more damage earlier on.

I currently use a 1-1 split, dropping a Thundurus for a Super Rod.
 

petertclo

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Well, in my experience, with only 1 Zekrom I can't get enough Zekroms into play and I need to use Lost Burn too many times.
With 2 in deck, I can comfortably take 3-4 prizes with Zekrom (2 Zekroms, and a super rod for 2 more) and that conserves my energy a lot.
 
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