So of all the decks at Battle Roads on Sunday I believe my friend Sal took perhaps the most interesting one. Sal played a Rocky Helmet Burn deck utilising Volcaronas (DEX) Scorching Scales ability to turn 20 burn damage into 40, also using Rocky Helmet to place damage counters on opponents Pokemon when they attack.
Here is the list he took to Battle Roads finishing with a 2-2 record
Pokemon (17)
2x Volcarona (Scorching Scales)
2x Larvesta (80HP, 3 retreat)
2x Vulpix (Fireworks)
2x Ninetales (Roast Reveal)
2x Pansear (Collect)
2x Simisear (Stadium Burn)
2x Moltres (Searing Flame)
2x Druddigon (Rough Skin)
1x Entei EX
Trainer/Supporter (29)
2x Bianca
2x Cilan
2x N
2x PONT
4x Rocky Helmet
2x Dual Ball
2x Heavy Ball
2x Level Ball
4x Ultra Ball
1x Energy Retrieval
2x Pokemon Catcher
2x Random Receiver
2x Switch
Energy (14)
10x Fire Energy
4x DCE
Summary
Like I said before this deck is designed to burn your opponents attacking Pokemon, then hopefully inflicting 40 damage on a failed flip in between turns. Rocky Helmet deals 2 damage counters when your opponent attacks the Pokemon Rocky Helmet is attached to (on Druddigon this is 40 damage when combined with Rough Skin). All of the attacking Pokemon in this deck burn your opponent except the Druddigon which makes Volcaronas ability active fast.
Now while I myself love this idea but the Entei EX is what stands out to me the most as the basis of what a deck like this can do. Entei has a easy to power first attack that burns your opponents active Pokemon, but his second attack will also help this deck keep pace with the faster decks of this format.Grand Flame will allow you to accelerate your benched Pokemon while keeping the pressure on your opponents Pokemon.
Magby would be a ideal starter for this deck since you can burn for free. Now while this may seem like a bad choice in comparison to say Cleffa which would refresh your hand, Magby is a excellent choice for this deck against fast paced decks that will start with a Smeargle or a Celebii Prime. Burning those Pokemon before they can get going will cancel out their Poke-Powers, forcing your opponent to waste resources to either get additional copies of that card or put themselves one turn behind you which is what you want.
So this would be my version of this deck
Pokemon (16)
4 Entei EX
3 Larvesta
3 Volcarona
2 Vulpix
2 Ninetales
2 Magby
Trainer/Supporter (30)
4 Professor Juniper
3 Professor Oaks New Theory
3 Sages Training
3 N
3 Dual Ball
3 Heavy Ball
3 Ultra Ball
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Random Receiver
2 Super Rod
1 Enhanced Hammer
Energy
11 Fire
4 Double Colorless
Summary
Now at first 4 Entei may seem like a lot, but i disagree. Entei is a good turn two attacker for 30 (after a catcher on a Tynamo or a Celebii Prime that's a knockout) and Grand Flame is a amazing attack that allows energy acceleration on a basic Pokemon. Magby is a solid opening play against CMT and Zekeels that start Smeargle (or Celebii Prime) negating Powers with burn. Volcaronas Scorching Scales lets you score extra damage in between turns and also serves as a decent secondary attacker. Ninetales has so much synergy with Entei EX letting you get extra cards and supplying Entei with the energy to accelerate your bench.
The Trainer line is designed so that you always have options, while keeping you in control of the game. Your Supporters are all draw cards of some sort, While your Trainers will enable you to score knockouts and search for all your Pokemon.
The Energy line is straight forward with a deck like this. To make sure you have a fire energy almost every turn you need one I have opted for 11. Double Colorless Energy provides for Volcarona so Grand Flame can power up multiple attackers.
Final Thoughts
Where Sals build used both Rocky Helmet and Scorching Scales, mine opts to maximize the damage output you can do with attacks and Scorching Scales. Consistency with Entei EX and Ninetales is just to good to overlook and with some play testing and preparation for the meta, this deck could dominate very fast.
But wait theres more........
Speaking of the current meta Battle Roads Kingston yesterday showed a smaller version of what the meta is right now. Masters division had 11 players in total and of those 11 players there were
3 Zekeels (took 1st and 4th)
2 CMT (2nd and 3rd)
2 Terrakion (1 pure, 1 Donphan/Terrakion/Groudon EX)
1 Durant
1 KyuremGatr
1 Rocky Helmet Burn
1 Round
This is a good scale of what the meta will be like in bigger Battle Roads and Nationals and I just wanna say a few things about these decks while I have the floor
Zekeels
I am not shocked to see Zekeels as the most played deck in Kingston, the deck is just too fast and efficient has a great match against all of the other decks in the format, and is able to make strong comebacks at any point with some well played moves.
CMT
CMT is in a war with Zekeels for the title of best deck in the format and until Celebii is rotated out CMT will be a strong contender at all events. Forest Breath is perhaps the best form of Energy Acceleration we have right now cause its on a basic Pokemon making it faster to set up then Eelektrik. Tornadus and Tornadus EXs weakness to Lightning is troublesome and Mewtwo Wars can backfire easily. Builds with Terrakion should show up more in the future if CMT wants to be the top dog.
Terrakion
In my opinion pure Terrakion builds cant compete with Zekeels anymore. Tornadus EX owns this deck with its Resistance (when combined with Eviolite reduces Retaliate from 90 to 50) and a smart player will play around the weakness. I feel that Terrakion builds should implement either Landorus or Groudon EX which can deal massive damage late game if played in conjunction with Landorus. The other issue is the energy attachments, as Terrakion is slower to get rolling on its own. EXP Share helps a little bit but a combination with Landorus would help speed this up with multiple EXP Shares.
Durant
unfortunately it seems Durant is on the downward spiral so to speak. Heatmors presence as well as the addition of Raikou EX and Entei EX have limited the decks capabilities to take advantage of the Eviolite Special Metal damage reduction. I feel that a rotation in the fall will be the final nail in the ant hill so to speak, as we will lose Special Metal Energy.
The Rest
KyuremGATR is a solid deck if it can set up Rain Dance fast enough no matter what the meta is. Glaciate is an amazing attack early game and sets up Feraligatr Prime as a secondary attack. Volcarona is described in full above this part. Round is amazing if you can set up a Seismitoad fast enough and start swinging.
Sorry for the combination of blogs this week I couldn't make a choice for today so opted for both lol
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