Experience: Intermediate/Veteran
Pokemon: 16
Trainers: 32
Energy: 12
Strategy:
T1: Get Spritzee and something else on bench, with Xerneas active. Attach; use Geomancy.
T2: Evolve to Aromatisse, shift energy to Xerneas, use Rainbow Spear for 100.
This actually happens quite often in my testing, making for strong early-game pressure.
Alternately, load up the fuel tank with several Geomancies in a row, and slowly burn through it over the course of the game (or use a giant Mewtwo surprise).
Place exp. shares on 2 benchwarmers - optimal candidates are Mime & Aromatisse. Shift recovered energy to the next attacker.
Bench Rattata to threaten a OHKO next turn. Raticate + laser = That's a nice EX you have... would be a ssssshame if sssssomething happened to it...
Raticate and Mewtwo give the deck some much-needed one-shot capability.
Playtesting notes:
Skyla does a lot of work here, making a perfect T1 Geomancy much easier with ball, letter, or escape rope. 11 basics make it common to start with multiple.
Muscle band usually goes on a 2nd Xerneas, as he's the most reliable attacker. OHKOs bouffalants, and with laser it hits the magic 130. Also counters Hard Charm.
In rare situations, Raticate + Spritzee/Swirlix (lol) next turn can be used to take out an EX. Exp share makes these options in the first place, though obviously sub-optimal. I sometimes use Raticate, then laser + Geomancy the next turn.
Exp. Share abuse is awesome, and thus tool scrapper hurts. So there must be 3+ shares, since most decks only run 1 scrapper and use it on the single first share and/or muscle band.
Slurpuff: Exp. Share does not work when killed by poison. Also Accelgor. Not useful in a lot of matchups (so, discard fodder).
The fairy energy is a very important resource that must be conserved. Include DCE in attack and discard costs wherever there's an option.
Matchups:
In my testing of variations of this deck (~50 attempted games on PTCGO), I've gotten quite a bit of success, even sweeping a darkrai/garbodor 6-0. It is extremely consistent (I had 4 Xerneas and 1 - 1 Raticate for most of my testing), usually outspeeding everything and taking the upper hand quickly, resulting in my opponent forfeiting. xD
Without Raticate (I tried out 1 - 1 Foul Play Zoroark), the deck lacks sufficient power and hits its limit late-game (lost a close battle to a PlasmaKlang with Aromatisse).
VirGen is tough; set a backup Spritzee. Avoid placing the first stadium.
Trevenant/Accelgor I haven't properly encountered yet, but I expect it to be a bad matchup, since 100 is just shy of a OHKO, and band/lasers/escape rope are locked. (EDIT: yup, a Deck & Cover every turn was an autoloss for me, so I teched in 1 - 1 Slurpuff to have a chance. Will see the results next time. EDIT2: Much better. Won vs Gothitelle/Accelgor. Damage was small, so I had a lot of time.)
Blastoise is probably the best matchup due to speed & favorable prize trades.
Darkrai and Yveltal without Virizion/Slurpuff are OHKOed easily by Raticate, and fairy resists dark. But with Virizion/Slurpuff they are very hard to deal with.
An opponent that has high health, energy mobility, max potion, and blocks status is a very unfavorable matchup. Probably worse than Trevenant or Garbodor variants.
This deck type is distinct from most other fairy decks in its reliance on non-EX attackers and lack of prism/rainbow. Based on my tests, I expect it to become an important metagame force. I'm posting it here so no one can steal my idea and get credit for it (hopefully no one has independently come up with this yet).
It just so happens that this can easily be dumbed down to a budget list, particularly on PTCGO - most of the bare essentials come from free unlocks or token-bought theme decks.
_______________________
Regarding this particular list:
When the game goes long, I sometimes feel like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with energy (particularly with a mid-late game Geomancy), so it seems like a good amount. Might go one less. (EDIT: Actually ran out of energy once, so it will stay exactly as it is.)
I want to swap out 2 N, a Juniper, and a Colress for 4 Shauna once I get them, and something for a Dowsing Machine if I get one. Unfortunately, I don't have any usable ace specs; my IRL base set computer search doesn't count.
EDIT: Went back up to 4 Xerneas; feels more reliable. Still tweaking the trainer line slightly.
Things I'm considering:
1 Tool Scrapper (Was useful vs Garbodor for one big energy move, probably not essential though, so I swapped it out for a laser in a recent edit. Still reconsidering.)
-1 Rattata -1 Raticate +1 Bouffalant (Gold Breaker) +1 something else. But that would thin my lines a bit too much.
Things I'm NOT considering:
Prism energy + Virizion EX (I need to Geomancy a lot sometimes, and DCE is necessary)
Keldeo EX (Only relevant for Sleep/Paralysis, since everything retreats for free anyway. Not really worth it, except possibly as anti-Accelgor.)
Xerneas EX (probably wouldn't put it in even if I had one; 4 energy is a hard cost if lost, and I won't always have DCE)
Pokemon: 16
- 4 Xerneas (Geomancy)
- 2 Spritzee
- 2 Aromatisse
- 1 Swirlix
- 1 Slurpuff
- 2 Rattata (40HP one)
- 2 Raticate (Super Fang)
- 1 Mewtwo EX
- 1 Mr. Mime (Bench Barrier)
Trainers: 32
- 4 Professor Juniper
- 4 N
- 3 Skyla
- 2 Colress
- - 3 Level Ball
- 3 Ultra Ball
- 1 Professor's Letter
- 1 Super Rod
- 1 Max Potion
- 3 Hypnotoxic Laser
- 1 Escape Rope
- - 2 Fairy Garden
- - 3 Exp. Share
- 1 Muscle Band
Energy: 12
- 9 Fairy
- 3 Double Colorless
Strategy:
T1: Get Spritzee and something else on bench, with Xerneas active. Attach; use Geomancy.
T2: Evolve to Aromatisse, shift energy to Xerneas, use Rainbow Spear for 100.
This actually happens quite often in my testing, making for strong early-game pressure.
Alternately, load up the fuel tank with several Geomancies in a row, and slowly burn through it over the course of the game (or use a giant Mewtwo surprise).
Place exp. shares on 2 benchwarmers - optimal candidates are Mime & Aromatisse. Shift recovered energy to the next attacker.
Bench Rattata to threaten a OHKO next turn. Raticate + laser = That's a nice EX you have... would be a ssssshame if sssssomething happened to it...
Raticate and Mewtwo give the deck some much-needed one-shot capability.Playtesting notes:
Skyla does a lot of work here, making a perfect T1 Geomancy much easier with ball, letter, or escape rope. 11 basics make it common to start with multiple.
Muscle band usually goes on a 2nd Xerneas, as he's the most reliable attacker. OHKOs bouffalants, and with laser it hits the magic 130. Also counters Hard Charm.
In rare situations, Raticate + Spritzee/Swirlix (lol) next turn can be used to take out an EX. Exp share makes these options in the first place, though obviously sub-optimal. I sometimes use Raticate, then laser + Geomancy the next turn.
Exp. Share abuse is awesome, and thus tool scrapper hurts. So there must be 3+ shares, since most decks only run 1 scrapper and use it on the single first share and/or muscle band.
Slurpuff: Exp. Share does not work when killed by poison. Also Accelgor. Not useful in a lot of matchups (so, discard fodder).
The fairy energy is a very important resource that must be conserved. Include DCE in attack and discard costs wherever there's an option.
Matchups:
In my testing of variations of this deck (~50 attempted games on PTCGO), I've gotten quite a bit of success, even sweeping a darkrai/garbodor 6-0. It is extremely consistent (I had 4 Xerneas and 1 - 1 Raticate for most of my testing), usually outspeeding everything and taking the upper hand quickly, resulting in my opponent forfeiting. xD
Without Raticate (I tried out 1 - 1 Foul Play Zoroark), the deck lacks sufficient power and hits its limit late-game (lost a close battle to a PlasmaKlang with Aromatisse).
VirGen is tough; set a backup Spritzee. Avoid placing the first stadium.
Trevenant/Accelgor I haven't properly encountered yet, but I expect it to be a bad matchup, since 100 is just shy of a OHKO, and band/lasers/escape rope are locked. (EDIT: yup, a Deck & Cover every turn was an autoloss for me, so I teched in 1 - 1 Slurpuff to have a chance. Will see the results next time. EDIT2: Much better. Won vs Gothitelle/Accelgor. Damage was small, so I had a lot of time.)
Blastoise is probably the best matchup due to speed & favorable prize trades.
Darkrai and Yveltal without Virizion/Slurpuff are OHKOed easily by Raticate, and fairy resists dark. But with Virizion/Slurpuff they are very hard to deal with.
An opponent that has high health, energy mobility, max potion, and blocks status is a very unfavorable matchup. Probably worse than Trevenant or Garbodor variants.
This deck type is distinct from most other fairy decks in its reliance on non-EX attackers and lack of prism/rainbow. Based on my tests, I expect it to become an important metagame force. I'm posting it here so no one can steal my idea and get credit for it (hopefully no one has independently come up with this yet).
It just so happens that this can easily be dumbed down to a budget list, particularly on PTCGO - most of the bare essentials come from free unlocks or token-bought theme decks.
_______________________
Regarding this particular list:
When the game goes long, I sometimes feel like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with energy (particularly with a mid-late game Geomancy), so it seems like a good amount. Might go one less. (EDIT: Actually ran out of energy once, so it will stay exactly as it is.)
I want to swap out 2 N, a Juniper, and a Colress for 4 Shauna once I get them, and something for a Dowsing Machine if I get one. Unfortunately, I don't have any usable ace specs; my IRL base set computer search doesn't count.
EDIT: Went back up to 4 Xerneas; feels more reliable. Still tweaking the trainer line slightly.
Things I'm considering:
1 Tool Scrapper (Was useful vs Garbodor for one big energy move, probably not essential though, so I swapped it out for a laser in a recent edit. Still reconsidering.)
-1 Rattata -1 Raticate +1 Bouffalant (Gold Breaker) +1 something else. But that would thin my lines a bit too much.
Things I'm NOT considering:
Prism energy + Virizion EX (I need to Geomancy a lot sometimes, and DCE is necessary)
Keldeo EX (Only relevant for Sleep/Paralysis, since everything retreats for free anyway. Not really worth it, except possibly as anti-Accelgor.)
Xerneas EX (probably wouldn't put it in even if I had one; 4 energy is a hard cost if lost, and I won't always have DCE)
