okothnuva
24th December 2006, 5:08 AM
This is a big list of all the major decks in the metagame. The metagame is basically what decks and strategies people are using in the format. I’ll only be focusing on the Modified format, since in Unlimited, there's like what, 2, 3 decks that win at all? I’ll be listing the most major ones, their strategies/decklists, and good ways to counter them.
Current Metagame (DX-on)
Tier 1
These are the decks that a huge majority of people are playing. People that can’t think up of their own deck ideas or people desperate for a high place in a tournament and have no time to test usually find a deck list off of the internet for one of these and use it. This is called netdecking. No, please don’t do it. It’s too cheap.
Metanite
This is probably the most widely played/copied deck in the entire format. It is based around Metagross d and Dragonite d.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/003.jpg
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/011.jpg
The strategy of this deck is to use Metagross’ Crush and Burn attack, discarding energies to increase damage, and using Dragonite’s Delta Charge to retrieve it. Metagross DX ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exdeoxys/11.jpg ) is usually added to get back energies even faster. A standard Metanite decklist looks pretty close to this.
3 Metagross d
1 Metagross DX
2 Metang d
4 Beldum d
3 Dragonite d
2 Dragonair d DS (Twister)
3 Dratini d DS (Thunder Wave)
1 Latios * DX
4 Holon’s Castform
1 Holon’s Voltorb
4 Holon Transceiver
3 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Researcher
2 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Farmer
4 Rare Candy
4 Windstorm
3 Fluffy Berry
4 Metal Energy
8 Lightning Energy
Like I said earlier, do NOT just copy this list and play it. People who netdeck annoy me to the point where I feel like throwing raw eggs at them. Okay, not really, but still don’t do it. This decklist is only here for planning against it.
Counters
Note: Unlike the decklist, this part I will let you copy.
~ Cessation Crystal. It’s pure magic. Your opponents will just windstorm it away, but if you play it with Crobat DS ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/002.jpg ), your opponent can’t even play their stupid Windstorms. Unfurtunately, then you’ll end up doing 0 damage because of grass resistance. No biggie, just use Holon FF ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/104.jpg ) and Fighting energy. Your opponent’ll be forced to attach energies by hand, at their slooowwww 1 energy per turn.
~ Battle Frontier. Holon legacy does almost the same thing and works almost as well, but then they’ll have no weakness, which would be dumb. Again, they’ll Windstorm it. So play it with Houndoom UF. ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exuf/7.jpg ) If you play Crystal Shard as well, you’ll KO their Metagrosses and Dragonites easily. Please note that this combination won’t win at all against any deck that doesn’t play dark/metal/normal powers/bodies.
~ Gardevoir ex d. ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exdf/93.jpg ) It puts imprison counters on their dragonites to stop their recovering of energies, and then their metagrosses to slow them down big time. They’ll take forever to kill it with its 150 HP, and again, if you play crystal shard, you’ll be overkilling them. Probably the best option, as Metanite isn’t the only deck it works against.
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RaiEggs
This deck centers around Raichu d and Exeggutor d.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exhp/015.jpg
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exhp/041.jpg
Doesn’t look like a combo, right? Well, it is…sort of. They both are good at the same thing - spreading damage to knock out 1-2-3, maybe even 4 pokes at the same time, ridding them of basic pokemon, or taking a good number of prizes. List looks like this.
4 Raichu d
4 Pikachu d HP
4 Exeggutor d
4 Exeggcute d
4 Holon’s Castform
2 Holon’s Magnemite
3 Holon Transceiver
3 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Researcher
2 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Farmer
2 Copycat
4 Mary’s Request
4 Cessation Crystal
4 Cursed Stone
2 Holon Legacy
4 Metal Energy
2 Double Rainbow Energy
4 Scramble Energy
Counters
Uh. There aren’t a lot, but here goes nothing.
~ Windstorm. Raieggs likes to use Cursed Stone + Cessation Crystal. Windstorm = byebye both.
~ Medicham CG + Scramble Energy. I’m freaking serious. Wait until you’re behind on prozes (don’t do this if you have 2 prizes left or etc) and Medicham kills bith by weakness. Windstorm away their Holon Legacy or play a counterstadium.
~ Arbok d, Gardevoir ex d, or whatever else that does 80 damage. The pokes in this deck have rather low HP.
~ Dugtrio CG. Don’t use this. Seriously.
Uh… that’s all I could figure out.
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Boom
This deck is centered around Banette ex and Houndoom UF.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exlegendmaker/85.jpg
Banette ex does really quick damage and Houndoom annoys the opponent to near-death. Sableye CG is sometimes used as well, to help discarding faster.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/excg/010.jpg
A Boom list looks like this.
3 Banette ex
1 Banette CG
4 Shuppet CG
2 Houndoom UF
2 Houndour UF
2 Sableye CG
3 Holon Transceiver
3 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Farmer
1 Holon Lass
4 TV Reporter
4 Crystal Beach
1 Battle Frontier
3 Pokemon Reversal
3 Professor Elm’s Training Method
3 Super Scoop Up
2 Copycat
2 Warp Point
4 Rainbow Energy
7 Psychic Energy
3 Fire Energy
Counters
~ Cessation Crystal. This thing doesn’t run Windstorm most of the time. Take advantage of that. 1 Mawile CG can be teched in case you’re Houndoom locked.
~ Anything that hits 90. Banette has crap HP for an ex. Salamence d does funny stuff to this, since Banette can’t kill it in one hit, but it murders that stupid puppet thing.
~ Just so you know, Safeguard pokes do NOT work against this. They just send up that Houndoom. Dustox ex doesn’t work, since it’s weak to CG Banette AND Houndoom. Wobbuffet PK does not work, since you’ll kill yourself if you attack after Houndoom Flamethrowers you. It’s weak to CG Banette as well.
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Tier 2
These I won’t get as much into or post lists for, since they aren’t played as much.
----------
Flygon ex d
I honestly have never seen this deck played, but I’ve heard a lot about it. It’s won quite a few cities, so I guess it’s worth a mention. Safeguard owns this.
Flymence/Sunny D
Flygon d and Salamence d. I covered this deck in the deckbuilding guide I posted a little earlier. I have no idea how the nickname “Sunny D” came up, though. The Houndoom UF + Battle Frontier trick works well against this.
----------
Tier 3
These decks are ones that have potential, but get their rears kicked by Tier 1/2 decks.
----------
Flariados
This deck was pretty popular last year, but it’s way too reliant on luck. I hate depending on my opponent flipping tails on burn and sleep for wins. It (ab)uses Ariados UF’s Spider Trap with Flareon ex’s power. Once again say this. I hate luck decks.
Mercury
Last year it flat out lost to Dragtrode, T2 Cham, LBS, god knows what else. Now that those are out of the format or suffered huge losses with the rotation (Cham lost Pow, Admin, and Swoop), Mercury is actually playable. It’s based around Gardevoir d DS moving energy around. Starmie DS provides the energy, Gardevoir ex d disrupts the opponent. There are about 5 different variants - Altaria ex d, Scizor ex, Registeel ex EM (even though it’s crap in this format, outclassed by Raichu d), and a few others. It’s pretty slow, though.
Shiftry ex
Ew. I hate this. I can just refuse to use a Power, and then Shiftry ex has to deal with its 2 weaknesses. Not the greatest attacker either.
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Rogue
These are decks that aren’t known well. They might be bad or good. For now, I’ll only mention the “good” ones. :D
----------
Alligator Eggs
Okay, whoever came up with that nickname had to be bored. This deck is based around Feraligatr d and Exeggutor d. Eggy’s Delta Circle does tons of damage and Feraligatr makes it even more.
GatrQueen
I invented this baby in late June/early July, and it’s actually doing really well. I refuse to post any more hints for it. I want a trip to Worlds :(
Seedot LM
I love this deck, but jit's way too dependant on my opponent letting me spin the dice along the corner where the 2, 4, and 6 meet. =[[
----------
Well, that’s all I remember as of now. Please don’t kill me if I forgot any. :P
Current Metagame (DX-on)
Tier 1
These are the decks that a huge majority of people are playing. People that can’t think up of their own deck ideas or people desperate for a high place in a tournament and have no time to test usually find a deck list off of the internet for one of these and use it. This is called netdecking. No, please don’t do it. It’s too cheap.
Metanite
This is probably the most widely played/copied deck in the entire format. It is based around Metagross d and Dragonite d.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/003.jpg
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/011.jpg
The strategy of this deck is to use Metagross’ Crush and Burn attack, discarding energies to increase damage, and using Dragonite’s Delta Charge to retrieve it. Metagross DX ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exdeoxys/11.jpg ) is usually added to get back energies even faster. A standard Metanite decklist looks pretty close to this.
3 Metagross d
1 Metagross DX
2 Metang d
4 Beldum d
3 Dragonite d
2 Dragonair d DS (Twister)
3 Dratini d DS (Thunder Wave)
1 Latios * DX
4 Holon’s Castform
1 Holon’s Voltorb
4 Holon Transceiver
3 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Researcher
2 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Farmer
4 Rare Candy
4 Windstorm
3 Fluffy Berry
4 Metal Energy
8 Lightning Energy
Like I said earlier, do NOT just copy this list and play it. People who netdeck annoy me to the point where I feel like throwing raw eggs at them. Okay, not really, but still don’t do it. This decklist is only here for planning against it.
Counters
Note: Unlike the decklist, this part I will let you copy.
~ Cessation Crystal. It’s pure magic. Your opponents will just windstorm it away, but if you play it with Crobat DS ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/002.jpg ), your opponent can’t even play their stupid Windstorms. Unfurtunately, then you’ll end up doing 0 damage because of grass resistance. No biggie, just use Holon FF ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exds/104.jpg ) and Fighting energy. Your opponent’ll be forced to attach energies by hand, at their slooowwww 1 energy per turn.
~ Battle Frontier. Holon legacy does almost the same thing and works almost as well, but then they’ll have no weakness, which would be dumb. Again, they’ll Windstorm it. So play it with Houndoom UF. ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exuf/7.jpg ) If you play Crystal Shard as well, you’ll KO their Metagrosses and Dragonites easily. Please note that this combination won’t win at all against any deck that doesn’t play dark/metal/normal powers/bodies.
~ Gardevoir ex d. ( http://pokebeach.com/sets/exdf/93.jpg ) It puts imprison counters on their dragonites to stop their recovering of energies, and then their metagrosses to slow them down big time. They’ll take forever to kill it with its 150 HP, and again, if you play crystal shard, you’ll be overkilling them. Probably the best option, as Metanite isn’t the only deck it works against.
----------
RaiEggs
This deck centers around Raichu d and Exeggutor d.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exhp/015.jpg
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exhp/041.jpg
Doesn’t look like a combo, right? Well, it is…sort of. They both are good at the same thing - spreading damage to knock out 1-2-3, maybe even 4 pokes at the same time, ridding them of basic pokemon, or taking a good number of prizes. List looks like this.
4 Raichu d
4 Pikachu d HP
4 Exeggutor d
4 Exeggcute d
4 Holon’s Castform
2 Holon’s Magnemite
3 Holon Transceiver
3 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Researcher
2 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Scientist
1 Holon Farmer
2 Copycat
4 Mary’s Request
4 Cessation Crystal
4 Cursed Stone
2 Holon Legacy
4 Metal Energy
2 Double Rainbow Energy
4 Scramble Energy
Counters
Uh. There aren’t a lot, but here goes nothing.
~ Windstorm. Raieggs likes to use Cursed Stone + Cessation Crystal. Windstorm = byebye both.
~ Medicham CG + Scramble Energy. I’m freaking serious. Wait until you’re behind on prozes (don’t do this if you have 2 prizes left or etc) and Medicham kills bith by weakness. Windstorm away their Holon Legacy or play a counterstadium.
~ Arbok d, Gardevoir ex d, or whatever else that does 80 damage. The pokes in this deck have rather low HP.
~ Dugtrio CG. Don’t use this. Seriously.
Uh… that’s all I could figure out.
----------
Boom
This deck is centered around Banette ex and Houndoom UF.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/exlegendmaker/85.jpg
Banette ex does really quick damage and Houndoom annoys the opponent to near-death. Sableye CG is sometimes used as well, to help discarding faster.
http://pokebeach.com/sets/excg/010.jpg
A Boom list looks like this.
3 Banette ex
1 Banette CG
4 Shuppet CG
2 Houndoom UF
2 Houndour UF
2 Sableye CG
3 Holon Transceiver
3 Holon Mentor
2 Holon Adventurer
1 Holon Farmer
1 Holon Lass
4 TV Reporter
4 Crystal Beach
1 Battle Frontier
3 Pokemon Reversal
3 Professor Elm’s Training Method
3 Super Scoop Up
2 Copycat
2 Warp Point
4 Rainbow Energy
7 Psychic Energy
3 Fire Energy
Counters
~ Cessation Crystal. This thing doesn’t run Windstorm most of the time. Take advantage of that. 1 Mawile CG can be teched in case you’re Houndoom locked.
~ Anything that hits 90. Banette has crap HP for an ex. Salamence d does funny stuff to this, since Banette can’t kill it in one hit, but it murders that stupid puppet thing.
~ Just so you know, Safeguard pokes do NOT work against this. They just send up that Houndoom. Dustox ex doesn’t work, since it’s weak to CG Banette AND Houndoom. Wobbuffet PK does not work, since you’ll kill yourself if you attack after Houndoom Flamethrowers you. It’s weak to CG Banette as well.
---------
Tier 2
These I won’t get as much into or post lists for, since they aren’t played as much.
----------
Flygon ex d
I honestly have never seen this deck played, but I’ve heard a lot about it. It’s won quite a few cities, so I guess it’s worth a mention. Safeguard owns this.
Flymence/Sunny D
Flygon d and Salamence d. I covered this deck in the deckbuilding guide I posted a little earlier. I have no idea how the nickname “Sunny D” came up, though. The Houndoom UF + Battle Frontier trick works well against this.
----------
Tier 3
These decks are ones that have potential, but get their rears kicked by Tier 1/2 decks.
----------
Flariados
This deck was pretty popular last year, but it’s way too reliant on luck. I hate depending on my opponent flipping tails on burn and sleep for wins. It (ab)uses Ariados UF’s Spider Trap with Flareon ex’s power. Once again say this. I hate luck decks.
Mercury
Last year it flat out lost to Dragtrode, T2 Cham, LBS, god knows what else. Now that those are out of the format or suffered huge losses with the rotation (Cham lost Pow, Admin, and Swoop), Mercury is actually playable. It’s based around Gardevoir d DS moving energy around. Starmie DS provides the energy, Gardevoir ex d disrupts the opponent. There are about 5 different variants - Altaria ex d, Scizor ex, Registeel ex EM (even though it’s crap in this format, outclassed by Raichu d), and a few others. It’s pretty slow, though.
Shiftry ex
Ew. I hate this. I can just refuse to use a Power, and then Shiftry ex has to deal with its 2 weaknesses. Not the greatest attacker either.
----------
Rogue
These are decks that aren’t known well. They might be bad or good. For now, I’ll only mention the “good” ones. :D
----------
Alligator Eggs
Okay, whoever came up with that nickname had to be bored. This deck is based around Feraligatr d and Exeggutor d. Eggy’s Delta Circle does tons of damage and Feraligatr makes it even more.
GatrQueen
I invented this baby in late June/early July, and it’s actually doing really well. I refuse to post any more hints for it. I want a trip to Worlds :(
Seedot LM
I love this deck, but jit's way too dependant on my opponent letting me spin the dice along the corner where the 2, 4, and 6 meet. =[[
----------
Well, that’s all I remember as of now. Please don’t kill me if I forgot any. :P