Frozen Flower

[Yono]

It has been a long time coming back to the TCG, so I don't know much, but I had an idea for a Deck involving Kyurem, Vileplume and Archeops.

Pokemon (23)
4 Kyurem
4-3 Archeops
4-3-4 Vileplume
4 Cleffa

Trainers/Supporters/Items (17)
3 Twins
3 Rare Candy
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Prof. Elm's Training Method
4 Plume Fossil

Energy (14)
3 Rainbow Energy
3 Double Colorless Energy
6 Water Energy
5 Fighting Energy

Basic concept is to allow Kyurem build up and attack without too many problems (trainers and evolved 'mons). Cleffa to stall until I draw the necessary cards. Rare Candy and Prof. Elm to get out evolutions faster.

I would appreciate criticism on this deck, as it has been a while since I've played. :)

 

[donavannj]

To get the Trainer Lock going, you'll probably want to run one or two more Vileplume.

At a minimum, I think you should do the following changes:

+1 Vileplume
-1 DCE

 

[Yono]

Hm, okay. I can do that. Will probably need it if one of my other Vileplume them goes down.

You said "at a minimum," so I'm curious, is there more I should modify? I want to be sure the strategy works.

One major threat I see is perhaps snipers (Yanmega, Mandibuzz and the like) and I doubt I'll be able to get Archeops up every time in order to stop their evolutions. :/ Is there more I can add?

 

[donavannj]

Yes. To strengthen the Trainer Lock, heavily consider running a 4-3-4 Vileplume line, so you increase your odds of having an Oddish survive to Vileplume.

 

[Yono]

That can be done. I had to make room, though...

-1 Eviolite
-1 Prof. Elm Training Method
-1 DCE

The removed stuff can be changed, if they're not the right choices (still questioning the DCE I removed). Put up the new list as well.

 

[donavannj]

I'm iffy on removing a second DCE. I'd drop Professor Juniper instead. Oh, and instead of Switch, opt to for 3 Twins or 3 Professor Oak's New Theory depending on whether you find yourself falling behind in prizes early or not.

 

[Tanaki]

Since I'm running a similar build, here's my advice:

-Eviolite is totally redundant in a trainer lock deck. At its best, it will only afford Kyurem a slightly stronger attack, and in most scenarios will be a dead card in your hand. Considering that trainer lock prevents the use of pluspower for most pokemon to land a finishing blow, the fact that black belt is seldom seen in most decks and that Zoroark Can't even land a fatal blow with a Darkness energy attached because Kyurem isn't a power hitter. Unless someone runs Kingdra prime to drop a damage counter for a finisher, eviolite isn't really necessary.

-Bellossom UD is a totally underrated card. Its effect is similar to serperior, only you have to activate it on your turn as opposed to an automatic triggering between turns. This means that its healing potential is halved, but considering that you will already have a gloom line set up, Bellossom will do you wonders; especially in the case of a mirror match.

-Juniper. If you're going to trainer lock, I've found that any card in your hand that doesn't immediately progress your game needs to be pitched ASAP, so try running more.

-Archeops. I forget that it's a fossil and essentially a stage 2. It's a neat strategy that can keep your opponents pegged, but overall it's a hindrance to the playstyle of trainer lock, and is conversely hindered by trainer lock. Not to mention the effectiveness of its ability is lessened if your opponent has already managed to evolve their main supports. Jirachi is the only thing I can think of to remedy this, but it's a tech that complicates the deck too much.

-Twins. If you're running a trainer lock, it means that the game effectively runs slower, and especially if you're running babies you're susceptible to a prize disadvantage; and thus is an excellent time for a card like twins to move along your strategy.

Hope you find this useful!

 

[Yono]

I'll be be sure to test both Twins and Prof. Oak once I assemble this.

Anything else the deck needs?

EDIT: Thanks for the heads up, Tanaki. I'll see how I rework the deck with your input as well.

 

[donavannj]

I'm against running Juniper in trainer lock because you could discard something useful and have no means of recovering it.

 

[Yono]

I'll focus on Prof. Oak for now over Juniper. I removed the Eviolite to add in Bellossoms.

As for Archeops, I do notice the problem. If I get Vileplume out, I won't be able to set-up with Plume Fossil. If Archeops is out, I can't evolve into Vileplume. :/ I don't know what to do to remedy that. I seems to be one or the other.

 

[donavannj]

You should be able to evolve to Archon and then Candy up to Vileplume and try using that to get around it.

If that doesn't work so well, maybe replace part of the Archeops line with Bellossom instead to get some healing action going on, like Tanaki had suggested.

 

[Yono]

Well, I threw in the Bellossoms already, but if they're optional, then I can perhaps add some more Energies?

 

[donavannj]

Yeah. I think you'll want more than 3 Water Energy if Kyurem is your primary attacker.

 

[Yono]

Boosted Water Energy to 6, that combined with the Rainbow Energies present should be fine (unless I need more).

I think that covers it, no? I think we've hit every point in this Deck.

 

[donavannj]

Now would be the time where you go out and test it. I await your results!

 

[Yono]

Thanks, donavannj and Tanaki, for the advice/crits. :)

I'll try giving this a test run somewhere before building the deck.

EDIT: Turns out Cobalion can really be a problem with this Deck. Perhaps Scizor Prime or a Reshiram or two can work?