Tag: Deck List Dump

Deck List Dump: Six Powerful Legacy Lists

INTRODUCTION

In the past, our blog coined a now commonly-used phrase called the "deck list dump": an article which provides users deck lists. As used here, the deck list dump's practical purpose was to provide users quality content on days in which we couldn't provide a more in-depth article such as yesterday's. That way, there's still a lot to learn even if the actual article writers here can't provide normal premium-level content.

In recent times, the term has taken on a more negative meaning, thanks to the rise of many premium content websites that exist just to regurgitate other people's content. At some point people DID pay specifically for deck lists, but nowadays they're quite literally a dime a dozen! That's why whenever we do a deck list dump, we'll focus on achieving the following:

1. Enough decks to make reading the article worthwhile;
2. Some minor explanation or analysis; and
3. Unique decks or a unique purpose behind the dump (example: today's dumping of Legacy format decks)

LEGACY LISTS

Despite being a frozen format, Legacy actually has a lot of untapped potential. That's because the people who play it are usually either inexperienced or nostalgia seekers, both of which are not actively seeking out new ideas. (There are also "Genters," or people who collude to get benefits in the VS ladder, but I don't include them because they aren't actively engaging with the cards or the format.)

Below are six ists which I've found decent amounts of success with:

Flareon

Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Great versus Genesect/Virizion/Celebi, competitive with most other decks, but struggles at times.

Durant

Concept Competitiveness: 5/10. Struggles against all of the top decks, but has a hard cap to the amount of times its games takes. Also beats Plasma very handily.

This particular list could use Twins from Triumphant.

Donphan/Garbodor

Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Amazing versus all of the top decks in Legacy, but will take very hard losses, including to anything Water.

Darkrai

Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Darkrai as a concept will always be extremely powerful, but in all honesty this particular list is not very good. I've included it however as an option for how to build Darkrai even if you don't own the very expensive Junk Arm card.

RayEels

Concept Competitiveness: 9/10. Incredibly powerful, versatile, and has no bad matchups. Only thing keeping it from being a "10" is that it struggles a bit with Darkrai and select rogue from time to time.

Garchomp


Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Extremely consistent, and exchanges very well with most of the format. The card pool from HeartGold/SoulSilver makes a big difference for this deck.

Deck List Dump: Six Powerful Legacy Lists

INTRODUCTION

In the past, our blog coined a now commonly-used phrase called the "deck list dump": an article which provides users deck lists. As used here, the deck list dump's practical purpose was to provide users quality content on days in which we couldn't provide a more in-depth article such as yesterday's. That way, there's still a lot to learn even if the actual article writers here can't provide normal premium-level content.

In recent times, the term has taken on a more negative meaning, thanks to the rise of many premium content websites that exist just to regurgitate other people's content. At some point people DID pay specifically for deck lists, but nowadays they're quite literally a dime a dozen! That's why whenever we do a deck list dump, we'll focus on achieving the following:

1. Enough decks to make reading the article worthwhile;
2. Some minor explanation or analysis; and
3. Unique decks or a unique purpose behind the dump (example: today's dumping of Legacy format decks)

LEGACY LISTS

Despite being a frozen format, Legacy actually has a lot of untapped potential. That's because the people who play it are usually either inexperienced or nostalgia seekers, both of which are not actively seeking out new ideas. (There are also "Genters," or people who collude to get benefits in the VS ladder, but I don't include them because they aren't actively engaging with the cards or the format.)

Below are six ists which I've found decent amounts of success with:

Flareon

Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Great versus Genesect/Virizion/Celebi, competitive with most other decks, but struggles at times.

Durant

Concept Competitiveness: 5/10. Struggles against all of the top decks, but has a hard cap to the amount of times its games takes. Also beats Plasma very handily.

This particular list could use Twins from Triumphant.

Donphan/Garbodor

Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Amazing versus all of the top decks in Legacy, but will take very hard losses, including to anything Water.

Darkrai

Concept Competitiveness: 7/10. Darkrai as a concept will always be extremely powerful, but in all honesty this particular list is not very good. I've included it however as an option for how to build Darkrai even if you don't own the very expensive Junk Arm card.

RayEels

Concept Competitiveness: 9/10. Incredibly powerful, versatile, and has no bad matchups. Only thing keeping it from being a "10" is that it struggles a bit with Darkrai and select rogue from time to time.

Garchomp


Concept Competitiveness: 8/10. Extremely consistent, and exchanges very well with most of the format. The card pool from HeartGold/SoulSilver makes a big difference for this deck.

Deck List Dump: Unlimited Crobat G Jolteon* spam

 

Headed back to school today, so no elaboration or explanation…Just enjoy it for all it's worth.

Pokemon (14):

4 Spiritomb AR
4 Crobat G PL
1 Uxie LA
1 Jolteon * HP
1 Duskull SF (secret holo)
1 Pidgey RG
1 Holon's Magnemite
1 Unown Q MD

Trainers/Stadiums/Supporters (46):

4 Professor Oak
4 Scoop Up
4 Super Scoop Up
4  Team Galactic's Invention G-105 Poke Turn
4 Computer Search
4 Poke-Drawer+
4 Junk Arm
4 Item Finder
4 Erika
4 Mr. Fuji
4 Pokemon Collector
1 Seeker
1 Alph Lithograph FOUR

Energy (0):

[None]

Strategy is pretty simple: spam a million Crobat G "Flash Bite" damage counters until you've won. Between Scoop Up, SSU, Item Finder, Junk Arm, Mr. Fuji, Poke Turn, and Seeker, you get an extra 250 damage available to you in addition to the fifty you started with via Jolteon and Crobat G.

Many of the tweaks in here are very, very metagame oriented, so proceed with caution.

For more variety, consider running a tech Zapdos MD. I used to run a Zapdos "decK" for unlimited pickup games at Worlds 2007 and Worlds 2008, but that deck is largely inferior to this due to the constant flipping you have to do (i.e., the risk you put yourself at). However, it could still be decent as a 1- of for situations where you've got lots of Pokemon to deal with (as a rule of thumb, Zapdos MD is statistically "better" whenever your opponent has three or more Pokemon in play…But it's not worth the risk unless they've got four or more).


P.S. Today's post was brought to you by…Some random people who make aluminum house decks:

Deck List Dump: Donphan, TS-2

This section, entitled "Deck List Dump," will be used whenever I either can't think of anything else good to type about, or am otherwise unwilling. I don't guarantee that the lists will be 100% amazing; however, there won't be vomit-inducing theme decks, and they will almost certainly give you a new perspective you might not have considered.

I intend to post my next four CC tournament reports for the next few days after this, but for now, consider this relatively rogue approach to 'Phan:

Pokemon (16):

4 Phanpy HS
4 Donphran Prime HS
4 Uxie LA
3 Crobat G
1 Mesprit LA

Trainers/Stadiums/Supporters (34):

4 Broken Time-Space
4 Pokemon Collector
4 Bebe's Search
4 Super Scoop Up
4 Poke Turn
4 Junk Arm
3 Pokemon Communication
2 Technical Machine TS-2
2 Expert Belt
2 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball

Energy (10):

10 Fighting

If you want a good matchup versus Luxchomp, yet a competitive game versus evolution decks, then this is certainly a viable option. However, even with TS-2, the Gyarados game is rough, so you may consider 2 Bubble Coat, 4 Poke-Drawer/1 Bubble Coat, or a 1-1-1 Exploud SV line.