Standard Deck Tech: Venusaur ex - Theories and Possibilities with the 151 Set

As we are preparing for the release of the special ”151” set (Pokémon Card 151 or 151 Kanto Sub Set), I'll be posting Deck Techs for the Standard format with theories for the new cards, which will come mid-September for us in the west.

It's worth stressing that the cards have numbers and codes based on the eastern version, that is, sv2a, which can't be used in tournaments! They'll only be playable when they reach the west in their American translation, with the sv3a code.

In this article, I'll show you a Venusaur ex list with a hypothetical build, which can be adjusted in the future.

Decklist

Venusaur ex: The Attacker which Causes Bad Status

- Soothing Bloom Ability: if this Pokémon is in the active position, you can choose one of your Pokémon in play and heal them by 60 points of damage.

- Potent Whip Attack (G)(G)(C): deals 150 damage and the opponent's active Pokémon becomes Poisoned and Confused.

It deals two instances of damage, two bad statuses which aren't bad - Confusion, if your opponent attacks, will force them to play the coin to be able to do so, and, in case they fail, they'll take 30 damage.

My suggestion is that Venusaur ex's setup is done last, as the main attacker in the deck will be Serperior-VStar, due to its flexibility with energies.

The game's bluff will be using Venusaur ex last so that it is possible to begin to chip away at your opponent with any enemy Pokémon which has difficulty with retreating as they have a high-energy cost, or make it so they don't have enough energy to attack.

Serperior VStar: The Deck's Versatile and Resistant Attacker

- Regal Blender Attack (G)(C)(C): deals 190 damage and can move energies from your Pokémon among themselves, in any way you want to.

- VStar Attack - Star Winder (G): this attack deals 60 times the number of energies attached to this Pokémon. Next, swap this Pokémon for one of your benched Pokémon in the process (you can't use more than one VPower per match).

The premise here is simple: use Forretress ex sv2 5's ability, Exploding Energy to attach 5 Grass (G) energies to your Pokémon. This way, your Serperior-VStar will be able to attack, and, with it being able to move these energies among your Pokémon in any way you want to, it will perform the role of "tanker", with a new attacker (another Serperior VStar or Venusaur ex). As Serperior VStar's cost is zero, you'll use the Cheryl BST 123 card to heal.

We also have its VStar attack, which deals 60 times the number of energies attached to Serperior-VStar as damage, which means, with 5 energies, you'll already deal 300 damage, which is a considerable number, and with 6 energies, you'll be dealing 360 damage, which means you can 100% destroy any Pokémon VMax or ex in the Standard format!

Wo-Chien ex: Finisher Attacker

Attack - Covetus Ivy (G)(G)(C): this attack deals 60 damage to one of your opponent's Pokémon for each Prize Card they got (doesn't apply weakness or resistance to the opponent's bench).

Attack - Forest Blast (G)(G)(G)(C): this attack deals 200 damage.

Wo-Chien ex is useful as a final card to hit one of your opponent's Pokémon, and even if they retreat, you can even deal "sniper" damage if you'd like to, as you're able to reach at most 300 damage in case your opponent has gotten 5 Prize Cards throughout the match.

Drapion V: The “Counter” to Fusion Strike, Single Strike and Rapid Strike Styles

Ability - Wild Style: this Pokémon's attack costs one (C) energy less for each Single Strike, Rapid Strike and Fusion Strike in your opponent's game.

Attack - Dynamic Tail (C)(C)(C)(C): this attack deals 190 damage and allows you to choose one of your Pokémon to receive 60 damage (doesn't apply weakness nor resistance to your benched Pokémon).

Your goal is to deal double damage to Mew VMAX LOR TG30, due to its weakness against the Dark type, totaling 380 damage.

Due to the Yokohama World Championship, in which Vance Kelley won with this deck, and because it can be set up quickly with only two energies to deal the Techno Blast damage (copied from Genesect V FST 185), it is a certain thing that you will face Mew.

Recursive Pokémon

- Bidoof CRZ 111 has Carefree Countenance, which prevents it from taking damage while on the bench from attacks, which is very useful to gain time and evolve it to Bibarel.

- Bibarel BRS 121 comes in with Industrious Incisors, which allows you, once per turn, to draw until you have five cards in hand.

With that, even if you have just a few cards in hand, in case you use Iono sv2 185, you'll always have consistency and "draw power" results in the game, and, with Bibarel's ability, you'll never run out of cards in hand.

- Forretress ex sv2 5 has Exploding Energy, which allows you to look for 5 basic Grass energies (G) in your deck and attach them to your Pokémon in any way you like. If you do, you'll knock out this Pokémon and your opponent will be able to get 2 Prize Cards, due to the "Rule Box".

This Pokémon is the heart that makes this deck go around, which will make dynamic the way you energize your Grass type Pokémon.

- Radiant Tsareena SIT 16 has Elegant Heal, which allows you, during your turn, to heal your Pokémon by 20 damage.

This, alongside Venusaur ex and its healing ability, will benefit one of your Pokémon with 80 points of healing (60 from Venusaur and 20 from Tsareena).

Trainer Cards

- Zinnia's Resolve EVS 164 allows you to discard two cards from your hand to activate its effect: draw from the top of your deck a number of cards equal to the number of enemy Pokémon on the opponent's bench.

- Gardenia's Vigor ASR 143 has the effect of drawing 2 cards, and, next, it follows up with attaching two basic Grass energies from your hand to one of your benched Pokémon.

This is useful to pull a particular Pokémon from the opponent's bench to deal the damage to victory, speeding up the drawing of Prize Cards.

This card is only useful for evolved Pokémon - as this is a requirement for its effect.

Heal a Pokémon completely, but, on the other side, discard all energies attached to it.

In case you heal Venusaur ex and lose the energies attached to it on the turn you used Cheryl BST 123, you can use Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189 to get them back, and then Switch CRZ 144 so that next turn (when you can use a new Supporter again), if you have a Gardenia's Vigor ASR 143, you can set up Venusaur ex again to attack.

But the use of this card is usually on Serperior VStar, which, after attacking and transferring its energies to set up another Grass attacker, can be healed with Cheryl BST 123, and you'll swap this new Grass Pokémon which got the new energies to the active position, preserving Serperior VStar.

- Iono sv2 185 is extremely powerful, as it is the fusion of its predecessor's effects, N FCO 105 and Marnie SSH 169: you and your opponent shuffle your hands and put them at the bottom of the deck. After that, you'll draw cards from the top of your decks equal to the number of Prize Cards you have in play, in case, in each player's game.

Example: if your opponent has 2 Prize Cards and you have 4 Prize Cards, and you use this card's effect, you'll shuffle your hands into the bottom of the deck, and then your opponent will draw only 2 cards, and you will draw 4.

Recursive Items

- Battle VIP Pass FST 225 is useful only on your first turn in the game: look for two basic Pokémon in your deck and then place them directly on the bench.

- Ultra Ball sv1 196 is useful to look for any Pokémon, evolution or basic, common or ultra rare, as long as you fulfill the requirement of discarding two cards from your hand to play it.

- Nest Ball sv1 181 is useful to search for any basic Pokémon in your deck and place it on your bench.

- Super Rod sv2 188, as a reprint of the Black/White era, comes in as another option to recycle, as it recycles 3 cards, them being basic energies and Pokémon, back into your deck.

- Capturing Aroma SIT 153 is useful as a Pokémon search: you toss a coin - if it's heads, look for an evolution Pokémon, show it to the opponent and place it in your hand; but if it's tails, get a basic Pokémon, show it and place it in your hand.

- Rare Candy PGO 69 is a vital card to speed up the game, as it is with it that you'll skip certain steps to evolve your Pokémon, and, in this list, notice that there isn't a straight line of Abra > Kadabra > Alakazam; precisely to save up a few cards in the deck to evolve them as fast as possible.

- Pal Pad sv1 182 is an item to recycle two Support cards from the discard pile back into the deck.

Ideally, you'll recycle Iono sv2 185 or a Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172.

- Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189 is an item which will recycle four basic energies from the discard pile, but it asks you to discard two cards in hand in the process.

I recommend you discard Battle VIP Pass FST 225 which go by unplayed after turn 1, as they will be dead cards throughout the whole game; it is good to follow-up with Gardenia's Vigor ASR 143, because, as you'll have Grass energies in your hand, you can attach them to one of your benched Pokémon easily.

- Letter of Encouragement sv3 189 is an item that can only be used in case one of your Pokémon was knocked out on the previous turn: you can look in your for up to three basic energies and place them in your hand.

And that, again, is another combo you can have with Gardenia's Vigor ASR 143, as it will energize your Pokémon on the bench with these energies, preparing your next attacker for future turns.

Advantages

- Darkness archetype decks which are weak to the Grass type, such as Charizard ex sv3 125.

Disadvantages

- Fire type decks.

- As our deck has a relatively slow set-up, Pokémon with explosive setups, such as VStar, can easily ruin your plans, even more so if those decks have evolution Pokémon with an ability such as Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR CRZ GG67's.

- Chien-Pao ex sv2 61 decks, not only because of the speedy basic Water energy energization that Baxcalibur offers to the archetype, but also because it has an explosive answer based on damage, reinforcing what I said above.

- United Wings decks, as it is a "full single prize" deck, such as this example.

Here I stress that this article is only an idea on how to build this deck with new cards, for those who love Venusaur and the Grass type.

Though it is very slow and has an ABC line with which you need to evolve Bulbasaur > Ivysaur > Venusaur, to guarantee this setup, it also needs Bibarel as your card draw engine in the deck.

And, besides that, we have an advantage, because in this "season" the Grass type was benefited due to two factors: the existence of Gardenia's Vigor ASR 143 as a way to speed up your Grass energies from hand to your benched Pokémon; and Forretress ex sv2 5, which helps you attach 5 energies from your deck to your Grass Pokémon.

See you next time!