Member [member]konter_j8902[/member] has written a deck analysis article on Zoroark/Yanmega, a decklist of his own creation that he used in the Official PokeBeach Redshark Tournament (that he ultimately won). Here he outlines what the deck's ultimate goal is once played and why he played it the way he did.
Introduction
Hi, my name is Jacob Konter. I have played Pokemon competitively for two years now. One in Seniors and one in Masters. During my first year, I played Scizor/Cherrim for the first half and Charizard for the second half of the season. This year, I played Charizard for a while and then played Mewperior pretty much until it was rotated. Now I am playing Zoroark/Yanmega, which is what this article is about. This is the exact list I used for the majority of the Pokebeach Redshark Tournament as well. So, here is the list.
Deck
19 Pokemon
4 Zorua BW
4 Zoroark BW
3 Yanma TM
3 Yanmega Prime TM
3 Tyrogue CoL
1 Elekid TM
1 Zekrom BW
19 Supporters
4 Judge
4 Copycat
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Seeker
2 Professor Juniper
12 Trainers
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Junk Arm
2 PlusPower
2 Pokegear 3.0
1 Pokemon Circulator
10 Energy
4 Special Dark Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
2 Rescue Energy
Breakdown
Pokemon
Zorua
Zorua is used to evolve into Zoroark. I chose this one because of its ability to donk, should I need it. It has a respectable one Retreat Cost and 60 HP, allowing it to survive an opposing Yanmega's Linear Attack quite easily. No matter what Zorua you choose, you need to be careful if your opponent can Catcher it to the active position and kill it before you can set up a Zoroark.
Zoroark
Zoroark is the main attacker in this deck. For {C}{C}, Zoroark can use Foul Play, which copies one of your opponents attacks. What makes this good is that Zoroark does not need to pay the energy costs. For example, say Zoroark copies Reshiram's Blue Flare attack. Unless Zoroark has {R} energy on it, it does not need to discard any of the energy attached to it. Zoroark can also use Nasty Plot for {D}, which allows you to get any card you want from your deck and put it into your hand. It is useful if you are having trouble getting set up. Zoroark has a {F} Weakness, which can cause it some problems with Donphan Prime, but it can be worked around.
Yanma TM
Yanma is used to evolve into Yanmega, and is arguably the best starter in the game, having free retreat, and being fairly hard to donk. There is no other Yanma to choose from, but having a -20 Fighting Resistance can really help against an opposing Donphan Prime. When they use Earthquake, it does 40 damage to Yanma (barring PlusPower), allowing it to survive.
Yanmega Prime
Yanmega Prime is used for fast attacks. For {G}{C}, you can do 40 to any of your opponent's Pokemon in play with Linear Attack. For {G}{G}{C}, You can do 70 do your opponent's active Pokemon with Sonicboom. While this seams bad, it is made good by Yanmega's Poke-Body, Insight. Insight says that if you and your opponent have the same amount of cards in your hand, you can attack for free, ultimately letting you use your Energy on Zoroark or Zekrom, letting you attack for free and fast. Yanmega has a {L} Weakness, which isn't great, but it can be dealt with adequately.
Tyrogue CoL
Tyrogue is in here so that you can start attacking T1 for a decent amount of Damage. For {}, Tyrogue does 30 damage with Mischievous Punch. This can either donk a baby, or take a decent amount out of your opponent's main attacker. Plus, you have the chance of being invincible to damage next turn. While many people play 0-1 Tyrogue, I prefer three as it can be used throughout the game. It makes the Magnezone matchup much easier by dealing 30 do it making it so that I can Foul Play Lost Burn and only discard two Energy, one Special Dark and one other Energy.
Elekid TM
Elekid is used for it's only attack, Sparkling Ball, which does 20 damage to any of your opponent's Pokemon. This is useful for if you go first, and you did 30 to their Active with a Tyrogue, and they retreated it. If it has 50 HP, you can then KO it with Elekid. It can also be used after your Yanmega Prime uses Linear Attack to get the KO on popular 60 HP Basics like Cyndaquil, Tepig, Zorua, etc.
Zekrom BW
Zekrom is used as a counter to Yanmega and other problematic cards. For {C}{C}, you can use Outrage, which does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each counter on Zekrom. This is enough to one shot a Yanmega after it attacks Zekrom. It can also be used against Kingdra Prime and Tornadus, as both of them have the same Weakness to Electric.
Energy
Special Dark Energy
Special Darkness Energy is used to add damage to Zoroark's attacks, as well as allow the use of Nasty Plot. This can bump up the damage when you copy a Blue Flare or a Bolt Strike to KO opposing Reshirams and Zekroms, respectively.
Double Colorless Energy
Double Colorless Energy is used so that Zoroark can attack the turn it evolves and it allows faster attacking. It provides you with enough Energy to power up a Zekrom's Outrage in one turn as well as have additional Energy should you need to retreat with Zekrom or Zoroark.
Rescue Energy
Rescue Energy is used for recovery of a Yanmega or a Zoroark, and it provides energy for Zoroark's Foul Play. This can be helpful when you're in the middle of a prize exchange with your opponent and you need the pieces of your attacker back on the field to continue attacking.
Supporters
Judge
Judge is played for disruption, and to allow Yanmega to attack. Giving your opponent a four card hand early in the game can be nasty. It also puts four cards in each players hand, allowing you to use Yanmega's attacks.
Copycat
Copycat is a hand refresher, but is mainly used to match your opponent's hand so that you can attack with Yanmega. The more hand matching cards you have in your hand, the more likely you are to subsequently draw into them, letting you get ahead in the prize war.
Pokemon Collector
Pokemon Collector is to search out your basics and get set up. It is the best Supporter in the format right now for the purpose you have in this deck. 12 Basics is a good reason for having to max out Pokemon Collector.
Professor Oak's New Theory
Professor Oak's New Theory is used to refresh your hand, and can be used to match your opponent's hand if they have five to six cards, or sometimes even four. It's one of the best hand refreshers we have in the current format and allows you to have maximum consistency when paired with Copycat and Judge.
Seeker
Seeker is used to pick up a damaged Pokemon and can sometimes be used to match your opponent's hand size. You have to be careful when using this, so your opponent doesn't pick up something that had damage on it from a previous snipe or damage on it from Tyrogue/Yanmega. Once played well, however, you can cleverly deny your opponent prizes as well, considering how many babies are being run in this deck.
Professor Juniper
Professor Juniper is used for a complete hand refresh and is usually used when you need one card to donk at the beginning of the game, as it ensures that you don't get any of the things you had in your hand. For straight draw, this card is the best for the maximum chance to get cards that you need. Once you have a low hand or after a Judge, this is a great card to play in order to have you get your hand corrected again.
Trainers
Pokemon Catcher
Pokemon Catcher is used for disruption and to get a cheap knockout. It can also be used to bring out a Pokemon with a high retreat, so you can snipe around it with Yanmega/Elekid.
Pokemon Communication
Pokemon Communication is used for getting out a Yanmega or Zoroark. While many people run three to four, I prefer to use two. There's Junk Arm in the deck to get it back and it's not as useful in the deck when there's more Basics in the deck that's needed to get going early game.
Junk Arm
Junk Arm lets you reuse your Trainers such as Pokemon Catcher or PlusPower to get knockouts easier. You can discard babies and other useless cards late game in order to get back the Trainers that you need late game to make a comeback.
PlusPower
PlusPower is useful for when you need to do that extra 10 damage for a knockout. In addition to Special Dark Energies, this is a great addition when it comes to doing additional damage. It is best used early game when you're trying to go for the donk.
Pokegear 3.0
Pokegear 3.0 is used to try and get a Supporter when you need one. It's a wonderful consistency booster that allows you to hit a Supporter when your hand doesn't give you a lot to work with and will ensure that you set up in the rest of the game.
Pokemon Circulator
Pokemon Circulator is used when your opponent is hiding behind a sleepy baby. It can provide even more disruption if they're field is weak, so that when they bring up a Pokemon, you'll hopefully be able to take advantage of that and either snipe or preferably take a prize.
Strategy
Your ideal starter would be a Yanma since it has free retreat and isn't easily donked. You then want to retreat to a Tyrogue and start hitting early on. T2 Zoroark or Yanmega would be great, but if you can get a KO with Tyrogue or Elekid, do that as it saves one of your big attackers. Ideally, you should take a prize at least every other turn, if not more. Zoroark is for the heavy hitters using a DCE and his attack Foul Play, and Yanmega is there to take cheap prizes using Insight which lets Yanmega attack for no Energy if the hand sizes are the same. With these low Energy costs, both Zoroark and Yanmega can deal a lot of damage with few attacks in a short amount of time, maximizing your offense. Trading blows with Zoroark and Yanmega allows you to win in the late game while the babies give you a good chance to spread some offensive damage early or even best go for the donk, should you go first. This deck lets you have a lot of options and it might be tough to decide exactly what you want to do during your turn. The sky's the limit with a lot of offensive threats allowing you to take games!
Conclusion
In closing, this deck is a solid deck, and it deserves some attention. I hope you enjoyed my article and thanks for reading.
Deck Analysis: Zoroark/Yanmega
Written by: Jacob Konter
Introduction
Hi, my name is Jacob Konter. I have played Pokemon competitively for two years now. One in Seniors and one in Masters. During my first year, I played Scizor/Cherrim for the first half and Charizard for the second half of the season. This year, I played Charizard for a while and then played Mewperior pretty much until it was rotated. Now I am playing Zoroark/Yanmega, which is what this article is about. This is the exact list I used for the majority of the Pokebeach Redshark Tournament as well. So, here is the list.
Deck
19 Pokemon
4 Zorua BW
4 Zoroark BW
3 Yanma TM
3 Yanmega Prime TM
3 Tyrogue CoL
1 Elekid TM
1 Zekrom BW
19 Supporters
4 Judge
4 Copycat
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Professor Oak's New Theory
2 Seeker
2 Professor Juniper
12 Trainers
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Junk Arm
2 PlusPower
2 Pokegear 3.0
1 Pokemon Circulator
10 Energy
4 Special Dark Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy
2 Rescue Energy
Breakdown
Pokemon
Zorua
Zorua is used to evolve into Zoroark. I chose this one because of its ability to donk, should I need it. It has a respectable one Retreat Cost and 60 HP, allowing it to survive an opposing Yanmega's Linear Attack quite easily. No matter what Zorua you choose, you need to be careful if your opponent can Catcher it to the active position and kill it before you can set up a Zoroark.
Zoroark
Zoroark is the main attacker in this deck. For {C}{C}, Zoroark can use Foul Play, which copies one of your opponents attacks. What makes this good is that Zoroark does not need to pay the energy costs. For example, say Zoroark copies Reshiram's Blue Flare attack. Unless Zoroark has {R} energy on it, it does not need to discard any of the energy attached to it. Zoroark can also use Nasty Plot for {D}, which allows you to get any card you want from your deck and put it into your hand. It is useful if you are having trouble getting set up. Zoroark has a {F} Weakness, which can cause it some problems with Donphan Prime, but it can be worked around.
Yanma TM
Yanma is used to evolve into Yanmega, and is arguably the best starter in the game, having free retreat, and being fairly hard to donk. There is no other Yanma to choose from, but having a -20 Fighting Resistance can really help against an opposing Donphan Prime. When they use Earthquake, it does 40 damage to Yanma (barring PlusPower), allowing it to survive.
Yanmega Prime
Yanmega Prime is used for fast attacks. For {G}{C}, you can do 40 to any of your opponent's Pokemon in play with Linear Attack. For {G}{G}{C}, You can do 70 do your opponent's active Pokemon with Sonicboom. While this seams bad, it is made good by Yanmega's Poke-Body, Insight. Insight says that if you and your opponent have the same amount of cards in your hand, you can attack for free, ultimately letting you use your Energy on Zoroark or Zekrom, letting you attack for free and fast. Yanmega has a {L} Weakness, which isn't great, but it can be dealt with adequately.
Tyrogue CoL
Tyrogue is in here so that you can start attacking T1 for a decent amount of Damage. For {}, Tyrogue does 30 damage with Mischievous Punch. This can either donk a baby, or take a decent amount out of your opponent's main attacker. Plus, you have the chance of being invincible to damage next turn. While many people play 0-1 Tyrogue, I prefer three as it can be used throughout the game. It makes the Magnezone matchup much easier by dealing 30 do it making it so that I can Foul Play Lost Burn and only discard two Energy, one Special Dark and one other Energy.
Elekid TM
Elekid is used for it's only attack, Sparkling Ball, which does 20 damage to any of your opponent's Pokemon. This is useful for if you go first, and you did 30 to their Active with a Tyrogue, and they retreated it. If it has 50 HP, you can then KO it with Elekid. It can also be used after your Yanmega Prime uses Linear Attack to get the KO on popular 60 HP Basics like Cyndaquil, Tepig, Zorua, etc.
Zekrom BW
Zekrom is used as a counter to Yanmega and other problematic cards. For {C}{C}, you can use Outrage, which does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each counter on Zekrom. This is enough to one shot a Yanmega after it attacks Zekrom. It can also be used against Kingdra Prime and Tornadus, as both of them have the same Weakness to Electric.
Energy
Special Dark Energy
Special Darkness Energy is used to add damage to Zoroark's attacks, as well as allow the use of Nasty Plot. This can bump up the damage when you copy a Blue Flare or a Bolt Strike to KO opposing Reshirams and Zekroms, respectively.
Double Colorless Energy
Double Colorless Energy is used so that Zoroark can attack the turn it evolves and it allows faster attacking. It provides you with enough Energy to power up a Zekrom's Outrage in one turn as well as have additional Energy should you need to retreat with Zekrom or Zoroark.
Rescue Energy
Rescue Energy is used for recovery of a Yanmega or a Zoroark, and it provides energy for Zoroark's Foul Play. This can be helpful when you're in the middle of a prize exchange with your opponent and you need the pieces of your attacker back on the field to continue attacking.
Supporters
Judge
Judge is played for disruption, and to allow Yanmega to attack. Giving your opponent a four card hand early in the game can be nasty. It also puts four cards in each players hand, allowing you to use Yanmega's attacks.
Copycat
Copycat is a hand refresher, but is mainly used to match your opponent's hand so that you can attack with Yanmega. The more hand matching cards you have in your hand, the more likely you are to subsequently draw into them, letting you get ahead in the prize war.
Pokemon Collector
Pokemon Collector is to search out your basics and get set up. It is the best Supporter in the format right now for the purpose you have in this deck. 12 Basics is a good reason for having to max out Pokemon Collector.
Professor Oak's New Theory
Professor Oak's New Theory is used to refresh your hand, and can be used to match your opponent's hand if they have five to six cards, or sometimes even four. It's one of the best hand refreshers we have in the current format and allows you to have maximum consistency when paired with Copycat and Judge.
Seeker
Seeker is used to pick up a damaged Pokemon and can sometimes be used to match your opponent's hand size. You have to be careful when using this, so your opponent doesn't pick up something that had damage on it from a previous snipe or damage on it from Tyrogue/Yanmega. Once played well, however, you can cleverly deny your opponent prizes as well, considering how many babies are being run in this deck.
Professor Juniper
Professor Juniper is used for a complete hand refresh and is usually used when you need one card to donk at the beginning of the game, as it ensures that you don't get any of the things you had in your hand. For straight draw, this card is the best for the maximum chance to get cards that you need. Once you have a low hand or after a Judge, this is a great card to play in order to have you get your hand corrected again.
Trainers
Pokemon Catcher
Pokemon Catcher is used for disruption and to get a cheap knockout. It can also be used to bring out a Pokemon with a high retreat, so you can snipe around it with Yanmega/Elekid.
Pokemon Communication
Pokemon Communication is used for getting out a Yanmega or Zoroark. While many people run three to four, I prefer to use two. There's Junk Arm in the deck to get it back and it's not as useful in the deck when there's more Basics in the deck that's needed to get going early game.
Junk Arm
Junk Arm lets you reuse your Trainers such as Pokemon Catcher or PlusPower to get knockouts easier. You can discard babies and other useless cards late game in order to get back the Trainers that you need late game to make a comeback.
PlusPower
PlusPower is useful for when you need to do that extra 10 damage for a knockout. In addition to Special Dark Energies, this is a great addition when it comes to doing additional damage. It is best used early game when you're trying to go for the donk.
Pokegear 3.0
Pokegear 3.0 is used to try and get a Supporter when you need one. It's a wonderful consistency booster that allows you to hit a Supporter when your hand doesn't give you a lot to work with and will ensure that you set up in the rest of the game.
Pokemon Circulator
Pokemon Circulator is used when your opponent is hiding behind a sleepy baby. It can provide even more disruption if they're field is weak, so that when they bring up a Pokemon, you'll hopefully be able to take advantage of that and either snipe or preferably take a prize.
Strategy
Your ideal starter would be a Yanma since it has free retreat and isn't easily donked. You then want to retreat to a Tyrogue and start hitting early on. T2 Zoroark or Yanmega would be great, but if you can get a KO with Tyrogue or Elekid, do that as it saves one of your big attackers. Ideally, you should take a prize at least every other turn, if not more. Zoroark is for the heavy hitters using a DCE and his attack Foul Play, and Yanmega is there to take cheap prizes using Insight which lets Yanmega attack for no Energy if the hand sizes are the same. With these low Energy costs, both Zoroark and Yanmega can deal a lot of damage with few attacks in a short amount of time, maximizing your offense. Trading blows with Zoroark and Yanmega allows you to win in the late game while the babies give you a good chance to spread some offensive damage early or even best go for the donk, should you go first. This deck lets you have a lot of options and it might be tough to decide exactly what you want to do during your turn. The sky's the limit with a lot of offensive threats allowing you to take games!
Conclusion
In closing, this deck is a solid deck, and it deserves some attention. I hope you enjoyed my article and thanks for reading.
Completely different strategy, or at least tweaked strategy with completely different Pokemon that nobody would think to put in it. So he deserves some credit for that.