Consistant "post rotation" Magikarp/ Gyarados PGO deck
So ... love it or hate it ... I love Magikarp, absolutely favorite Poke. I've had a ton of success playing the below (list below) deck for months, but with rotation, it looses ALOT of contributors, and, though I've tried dozens at this point, ways to make it work, I'm having an awful time of it for post rotation.
Primary issue is the loss of quick ball but VERY much the loss of twin energy. Quickball really hurts the ability to get rid of a Magikarp/Gyarados each turn (which is vital, but can be overcome) ... the true nail in the grave is the loss of twin energy. Yes, we have double turbo, but it breaks damage so much end of game that its a major problem (not to mention it slows down early attacks knowing that there is limited "double" attachment).
So .. anyone else out there in love with this deck and finding ways to make it work? Looking for some advice here. I am hoping I'm just missing some creative way to make it fly consistently again (I can regularly beat out any of the meta decks with the below format if I play smart despite it being a meme deck .. and I just love the game play).
So far I 've done the following:
Moved in Ralts/Kirila in place of the current Cinccino engine. (this works fine, but is a little ugly)
Replaced the twin energy with standard eyeball energy (this gives me access to Ralts attack once one of them is discarded, which makes for a good stall as it disables my choice of attack on the opponents card for a turn). This however slows down my ability to turn two attack and have anything consistently powered up for the inevitable loss of my main front card (they are designed to be one shotted in this deck anyway). So the use of regular energy is sort of breaking any ability to be consistent.
replaced quick ball with various other things to try and get more discards: tried the poke stop ... it breaks me about as often as it works (getting rid of things I actually need far too often). I've tired adjusting supporters to be more heavy into discard, but then I run into availability issues.
I really feel like the main issue is loss of energy attachment / availability with the loss of twin energy. Any ideas?
Deck list in "standard" today (will be rotated out in a few days):
Ditto 53
Minccino 124
Cinccino 147
Magikarp PGO 21
Manaphy 41
Gyarados PGO 22
Level Ball 129
Cynthia's Ambition 138
Evolution Incense 163
Pal Pad 172
Trekking Shoes 156
Peonia 149
Path to the Peak 148
Boss's Orders 132
Rescue Carrier 154
Choice Belt 135
Roseanne's Backup 148
Ultra Ball 150
Professor's Research 147
Quick Ball 179
Air Balloon 156
Twin Energy 174
Double Turbo Energy 151
Answers
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Bumping this to see if anyone has come up with anything good yet? I still can't get it to be halfway playable. I assume my choices in supports is likely the issue (it usually is with most decks), but I can't find a way to make it reliable.
I think the loss of the Twin energy is the main issue at this point. The upcoming "catchup energy" (*can't remember what it's called) may help some with this, but it certainly won't make it playable in the same way. As funny as it sounds, I was able to rank pretty well with the deck due to the level of control it offered. No, not reliable in beating top meta decks, but what really is ... I still got prob 40% win rate with it and closer to 60% against most everything else aside from decks designed to lock out basics with abilities.
I am very sad about the state of "single prize" decks in current right now. There is almost nothing truly playable that can actually be "played" with strategy (other than lost zone, and who wants that crap, it's so over done). This new format was supposed to "shake things up" ... and it did, some in good ways, but what it really did was kill the game in terms of choices. There are a handful of decks that actually "play" (I don't mean compete at the top levels, there are always only a few there, and arguably there are "more" of them right now as folks figure things out). By "play" I mean, runs reliably so that its not 100% RNG on what lands on your top deck pulls.
I know it's a bit of a rant ( =) ) but I had super high hopes that the whole "slow the game down" thing was actually going to happen. Instead, what we have is a game that is dominated by "turbo" decks that give very little to the imagination other than "go fast" ... Those are fun decks, I'm glad they exist, but its so dominating in the format that other "slower" forms of play are nearly useless unless you happen to get matched up against someone also just willing to loose 60/70% of their matches to preserve their play style.
I find myself keeping two decks with me when we go play at league and always end up asking what the other person is playing. You'd be shocked how many times other players will say something like "I have this (usually a turbo style or other meta deck ... for instance I usually go with Palkia, not the best, but I can reliably win 50% of the games or better)", but then say something like "but I also have "xxxx" (insert slower stage 2 or single prize deck) as well, and I'd REALLY rather play that if you have something similar. So, we end up playing these slower decks. This happens at almost every casual game ... of course at the sanctioned events, we all bring the "faster" decks.
But you have to question ... if it seems like we're all "wanting" to play these slower, more diverse, decks ... why is the game being designed to cater to these "fast" deck play styles instead. I believe some serious game designer issues are creeping into the format (again) that will alienate folks (again) from playing. Pokemon got through it fine in the past, partly due to the lack of other publicly popular TCG. But that isn't really the case any more ... There are multiple popular TCG now and they are growing much quicker than Pokemon TCG (and even Disney / Ravensburger) are getting in on the action, and we all know how dedicated Disney fans are to trying anything new from the franchise). Don't get me wrong, I love playing the game, but I really have to wonder "who" Pokemon is designing the game for at this point. the majority of players ... or are they making it to be "flashy" and fast because the "live stream events" are more exciting that way? Hum ...
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I might consider adding Articuno PGO. Even though it's only ten extra damage, it can help out a lot, and you don't even need to play the full four. Another thing that might work but is very unreliable is Blanche PGO. Draw two cards, and if you get heads on a coin flip, you can attach a water energy from your discard pile to one of your pokemon. Marnie's Pride could also work, but I think that Exp. Share would be the most reliable way to get a Magikarp attacking quickly. Attach it to a benched Magikarp, when your active gets knocked out, all you need to do is attach one energy from hand. Definitely play four Double Turbo, though. If you're playing Exp. Share then you might want to swap out some Roseanne's Backup for Arven. Hope this helps!
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Also, as an afterthought, I would probably add a one-one line of Toedscruel ex, for protection against Sableye. You do not want to let your opponent have any huge three-or-four-prize turns, especially since your Magikarp only have thirty HP.
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Thanks for the suggestions, some good things to think about. =) One note on the play style though, with the deck the Karps (ideally) go straight to the discard pile along with its evolution. Sometimes its worth putting a karp up turn one just to get it to summon 3 other Karp to the hand (and then inevitably get nocked out), but if it ends up on the bench things are NOT going your way. lol. All of the attacking is done by Ditto.
But the advice you've given is good I think .. I've not really tried EXP share, and that may be a decent way to go. I've used the Arti from GO in other decks (usually with zero success, lol), but that isn't a half bad idea here. The downside though would be having it gusted up and "stuck" in the active. But, it would provide a "target" for folks (misplaying frankly) to go after other than the kirlia and ditto. So, overall not a bad idea maybe. I've not tried playing the deck in a good 2 months as there wasn't much out there to help it along. I think some of the stuff (like the sticker book patch, what ever its called) coming out in 151 that may be of some help, also one of the new supporters from OF that allows attachment of energy as long as you don't attack that turn .... worth thinking about maybe ....
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