HD for Regionals this coming weekend.

Overlord Drakow

Overlord Drakow

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    17
    Years
    3 Hydreigon DRE 97
    1 Zweilous DRE 96
    3 Deino NVI 77
    3 Darkrai EX DEX 63
    1 Mewtwo EX NXD 98
    1 Shaymin EX NXD 5
    2 Sableye DEX 62


    4 Dark Patch
    4 Pokemon Catcher
    4 Crushing Hammer
    3 Rare Candy
    3 Ultra Ball
    2 Level Ball
    1 Super Rod
    3 Random Receiver
    3 N
    3 Bianca
    4 Professor Juniper


    8 Darkness Energy
    4 Blend Energy GRPD

    This is the list I'm planning on using for the upcoming regional tournament (boundaries crossed is not legal). Any suggestions are welcomed.
     
    Don't use mewtwo. Trust me, it will only get in the way when you don't want it. Put in either a Sigyliph, another Shaymin, or a Sableye.

    No need for Super Rod or the third RR either. Add in maybe 1-2 more Dark Energy or another Darkrai for max chance of starting with it.

    everything else looks fine tho
     
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    Mewtwo has been useful to me though . . .

    You really think I can get away with 10 Supporters and 2 RR? Even with 13 I end up in situations with no supporters which is one of the most surefire ways you will end up losing. The Super Rod is there so that I can reuse my tech attackers if necessary and it helps justify only having two Sableye as well.
     
    Crushing Hammer takes away from the offensive take on this deck. The need to use Sableye to recycle the cards forces you to risk giving up a prize during the turn that your opponent can use to recover, especially since smart use of N can set you back a turn. Removing them would open up room for more options in the deck or to strengthen existing lines. I suggest adding two supporters, an Ultra Ball, and a Rare Candy. The Super Rod ought to be replaced with a Sableye to strengthen your early game set up. Level Ball should be removed for two Max Potion because it fits so well with the deck's strategy and is probably the one card that the Hydreigon varient of a Darkrai deck can use better than any other. Shaymin EX, Mewtwo EX, a Rare Candy, a Pokemon Catcher, or a Dark Patch could be swapped for more Max Potion, Eviolite, or Sigilyph.
     
    Max Potion is pretty damn useless against a smart opponent. Seriously, they always go for OHKOs or spread damage and then kill things off, making Max Potion pretty mediocre. Eviolite is useless too because pretty much everyone runs Tool Scrappers anyway.

    I will probably drop the Super Rod for the third Sableye though.
     
    Not every deck can one-shot a Darkrai EX or take a prize each turn, and Max Potion gets rid of spread damage, so Max Potion does have an important role in the deck. Eviolite stops the one-shots from Terrakion, slows down others decks, or forces your opponent to work to get a Tool Scrapper, so it's a good defensive play. The big question I have, though, is why did you decide to build a Hydreigon version of Darkrai if you don't choose to play Max Potion? Simpler Darkrai decks do what you probably want your deck to do better than a Darkrai with Hydreigon deck would.
     
    Because with Hydreigon I can still swap my energies around to different attackers. Max Potion is expected so smart opponents will play around it (it's happened to me far too often) so I'll throw something unexpected into the mix instead. They'll adapt their playstyle to mitigate Max Potions which I don't use, giving me an edge. Since I run no tools, they'll end up with dead tool scrappers.
     
    I still don't find sufficient reason to play Hydreigon in a Darkrai list without playing Max Potion. You state that your opponents will commit to the game in a way inadequate to how one ought to play against a Darkrai Hydreigon deck. However, I can only think of the truth of the proverb: "It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." In my mind, a Terrakion player, amongst others, would be glad to indirectly achieve the effect of Tool Scrapper by not needing to play the card in order to maintain a field devoid of Eviolited Darkrai. They would be even more glad to be granted the opportunity to set up knock-outs on opposing Pokemon unhindered from Max Potion. Even more so, Crushing Hammer as an offensive play slows and is slowed by the presense of a stage two Hydreigon. In my mind, these situations do not justify playing Hydreigon for the sole purpose of moving energy among attackers. Not every deck plays Tool Scrapper, and it's not guarenteed to be availale at all times of a game, meaning Eviolite can protect your Darkrai from a knock-out. Likewise, a majority of decks cannot do better than to knock out Darkrai in two attacks, and even so, most decks do often set up knock-outs on opposing Pokemon, a situation that Max Potion can take advantage of to effectively undo your opponent's attack. Is it still not worth playing these cards?
     
    That proverb is not strictly true however. If I have dead max potions it would be better to have a live card instead. But I see where you're coming from. I should play to the deck's strengths. How about this then?

    - Super Rod
    - 2 Level Ball
    - 4 Crushing Hammer

    + Sableye
    + Ultra Ball
    + Bianca
    + 2 Max Potion
    + 2 Eviolite

    You mentioned Sigylith but I don't think it's really that great of a card. I wouldn't mind adding in one more Supporter either but I feel if I am going to run Eviolite, I should go all out with it. Could drop one for an additional supporter though.

    Edit: Went 4-2 but missed out on top cut. Got paired down in the final round of swiss otherwise I might have made it V____V

    Thanks for the advice guys, really helped me out. Max Potion and Eviolite did put in work in the end.
     
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    Well, since you attended the tournament, your experience would help tell what problems your deck has. Was there something you didn't like about your deck?
     
    What I didn't like were supporter droughts. I outrightly lost a game due to it and my other loss was because two Hydreigon were prized and I Juniper'ed my only copy early on without knowing where the other two were. Didn't have the chance to search my deck until after the Juniper then I realized >_____>

    So yeah both of my defeats were really beyond my control. Though I did win at least one of my games due to luck when I really should have lost - opponent flipped badly with Ho Oh.

    Honestly apart from the sometimes having no supporters and sometimes not having Ultra Ball or Deino out turn 1, the deck ran fine. Sometimes I did wish I had more Eviolite and Max Potion I admit but then space is tight so. I didn't miss Tool Scrapper at all to be honest (I used to tech the one copy). It doesn't really matter when you have Hydreigon anyway as you can still 2HKO any Eviolite EX with Night Spear + Dragon Blast.

    I ran 14 supporters which I feel should REALLY be enough (4 Juniper, 4 Bianca, 3 N and 3 Receiver) but at times I still had no supporters for a few turns and that is just killer. With Skyla out now I am going to ditch the Receivers for them and then I need to find space for Comp Search. I like the idea of 4 Ultra Ball, Comp Search and 4 Bianca though.

    Mewtwo and Shaymin both put in work for me on a final note.
     
    Now that I think about it... HD really isn't that good of a deck anymore. It's just too slow. I've been playtesting different variants against stuff like terrakion, gartaria, Bulltwo, and eels, and it only wins about half of the matches due to prized hydreigons, rare candies, bad starts, and slow setups.

    maybe you should try a variant with only these Pokémon:

    4-2-4 Hydreigon
    4 Darkrai
    3 Sableye

    Yes, I know its 100% vulnerable to Terrakion decks, but I have a crazy feeling that something weird like that would do well. I did the same thing with my Hammertime deck; turned it into a Straight Darkrai/Sableye deck with nothing else except Hammers. It actually beat up Gartaria and my Eels like a nerd on the street. :D (terrible analogy, I know. I really suck at those.)
     
    Well with Skyla and Computer Search, the deck gains a huge boost in consistency as you can use those cards to search for the missing pieces to pull off a turn two Hydreigon. Also the odds of two out of three or four Hydreigon getting prized is roughly 1 in a 100 games.

    I might give your suggestion a spin though as it seems like it could be good.
     
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