Expanded Deck Tech: Paradox Johto Beasts

Temporal Forces brought us the Paradox forms of the Johto Beasts: Entei, Raikou, and Suicune! Each one has their own mechanics and strengths.

In this article, we'll show you three lists, one for each beast, and teach you how to play them with the arsenal of cards Expanded offers us.

Decklist

Analysis

With this deck, your plan will be to deal a lot of damage as much as you can. For instance, you can do this with Gouging Fire ex TEF 204 and its attack, Blaze Blitz, which deals 260 damage, or with a few of the other Pokémon included in this list. Reshiram & Charizard-GX PR-SM SM201's Flare Strike deals 230 damage, Reshiram V SIT 24 deals 200 damage, and Radiant Charizard CRZ 20's Combustion Blast deals 250 damage, which is great for late game.

However, each one has a downside:

Gouging Fire ex TEF 204 can't use its attack, Blaze Blitz, again until it leaves the active spot, just like Reshiram & Charizard-GX PR-SM SM201's attack, Flare Strike.

To fix this, we'll use Float Stone PLF 99, which zeroes the retreat cost of the Pokémon you attach it to. This means you'll be able to move that Pokémon around as much as you want.

Reshiram V SIT 24, on the other side, is useful in two ways: first, it has a recursive attack that lets you look for two Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 in your deck. Its second attack, White Blaze deals 200 base damage and makes you toss a coin. If it's tails, you "won't be able to use this attack again the following turn".

Radiant Charizard CRZ 20 also has this same attack and "can't use it next turn", but it is more important late game because of its ability. Excited Heart states that "this Pokémon's attacks cost one less colorless energy for each Prize card your opponent has taken".

Recursive Pokémon

To Deal Even More Damage: Volcanion-EX

Its ability buffs all your Pokémon's attacks that turn by 30 points if you discard one basic Fire energy from your hand. And the best thing about it is that you can stack it; this means, as you have two copies of this Pokémon in your deck, you'll be able to deal 60 extra damage on a single turn.

1) Gouging Fire ex TEF 204's Blaze Blitz may deal up to 320 damage (260 + 60) all at once!

2) Reshiram & Charizard-GX PR-SM SM201 is powerful in three different ways:

► Its attack, Outrage, deals 30 + 10 damage for each damage counter on this TAG TEAM duo. This means, as this card has 270 base HP, the most we can put in it in terms of damage counters is 260 points, and with the extra 30 base damage, that's 290 damage. With 2 Volcanion-EX PR-XY XY173 in play, you'll deal an extra 60 damage, so that's 350 damage all at once!

► As for Flare Strike, it will deal 290 damage instead of 230!

► Its GX attack, Double Blaze, if you have six Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 on it, will deal 300 damage and also go over any effects on the enemy's Active Pokémon.

3) Reshiram V SIT 24 is quite simple: is attack, White Blaze, will deal up to 260 damage with your two Volcanion-EX PR-XY XY173 in play!

4) And, finally, Radiant Charizard CRZ 20's attack may deal up to 310 all at once!

Support Cards for Certain Situations

Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60a is useful because of its ability: if you play this Pokémon from your hand to your bench, you'll be able to look for a Supporter in your deck, reveal it to your opponent, then place it in your hand.

We usually want Welder UNB 189a, Guzma BUS 115, or Roxanne ASR 150.

Dedenne-GX UNB 57 is useful to draw cards.

Catcher Role: Ninetales

Its ability, Nine Temptations, is similar to a Boss's Orders RCL 154, but it forces you to discard two Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from your hand to pull a Pokémon on your opponent's bench onto their active spot.

But, be careful: the line is only 1-1.

Decklist

Analysis

With this deck, the plan is to try, as much as you can, to use Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 156 early on when you're second to play. This way, you'll be able to use its GX attack, Altered Creation, with Double Dragon Energy ROS. 97. Then, you'll gain more value whenever Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 156 and Raging Bolt ex TEF 208 knock out a Pokémon because you'll get an extra Prize card, besides dealing an extra 30 damage.

Attackers

Ideally, you'll always start with Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 156 to deal 180 damage (considering you have already used its GX attack). Then, you'll attach as many Electric energies as you can to your Pokémon to set up for Raging Bolt ex TEF 208's attack.

Keep in mind, you need to use Fighting Fury Belt BKP 99 to grant an extra 40 HP to Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 156 - it will have 320 HP and also deal an extra 10 damage, which means it will deal 190 damage in total!

We also have Raging Bolt ex TEF 208 and its second attack, Bellowing Thunder. This attack states: "you may discard any amount of Basic Energy from your Pokémon; this attack does 70 damage for each card you discarded in this way."

To use this attack, you'll need to use Double Dragon Energy ROS 97 and Magnezone FLI 36 as support cards.

Then, we added Vikavolt V DAA 60 to this list to execute a few specific strategies:

Its first attack, Paralyzing Bolt, will stop your opponent from playing any Items, so this will be your "stall and control" strategy. You'll stop them from using cards like Counter Catcher sv4 160, Counter Catcher sv4 160, Great Catcher CEC 192, Great Catcher CEC 192, Super Rod sv2 188, and many others, besides regular Poké-Balls.

As for its second attack, Super Zap Cannon, it will be perfect to target relatively smaller Pokémon, like basic, ex, EX and V Pokémon, for instance.

Recursive Pokémon

Energy Set Up

Support for Specific Strategies

Decklist

Analysis

With this deck, the plan is to deal more damage when your opponent is Poisoned. To do this, you'll use Brute Bonnet sv4 123 and its ability, Toxic Powder.

Like so, Walking Wake ex TEF 205's attack, Catharasis Roar, will deal 240 damage in total. You can also buff it with Radiant Hisuian Sneasler LOR 123's ability and Virbank City Gym PLS 126.

Recursive Pokémon

Situational Support

These were all our three decklists of the Paradox Johto Beasts! Which one was your favorite? Which Johto beast is your all-time favorite? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!