Pokémon TCG: Expanded Deck Tech - Rogue Entei with Mega Evolution

Greetings! Today, we'll bring back one of the best Entei LOT 47 for the Expanded format, but as a "baby"! With Gumshoos MEG 110, from the new set, Mega Evolution, we'll make Entei's attack, Eruption, a lot more powerful!

Without further ado, let's see how this strategy works.

Decklist

Entei: The Main Star

Its main attack is Eruption, which deals 80 base damage. However, it has another effect: after you use it, each player will have to discard the top card in their decks. For each energy discarded this way, this attack will deal 60 extra damage. This means it can deal up to 200 damage total!

"Prim Star" Victini: An Attacker that Recycles Energies

Its main attack deals damage according to how many Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 are in the discard pile. After that, it shuffles these energies back to the deck. It essentially protects us from "decking out" and makes sure the next cards we draw are energies so that we can deal even more damage with Entei.

Radiant Charizard: End Game Attacker

We'll only really use this Pokémon in the end game. Its ability discounts the cost of its main attack.

Excited Heart discounts the cost of its main attack by one colorless energy less for each Prize card our opponent has taken.

So, Combustion Blast will cost just one basic Fire energy if the opponent took 4 Prize cards. It deals 250 damage, which is a lot for just one energy.

Recursive Pokémon

Recursive "Baby" Pokémon

► Gumshoos MEG 110's ability, Evidence Gathering, is actually the core of the entire strategy. It lets us swap one card in our hand for the top card in our deck and vice versa, so it's essential for Entei LOT 47's Eruption.

► Ninetales TEU 16's ability, Nina Temptations, is similar to Boss's Orders BRS 132. It essentially pulls one benched enemy Pokémon to the active spot, so we can use it to try to knock out a specific Pokémon. However, we'll have to discard 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 to use it.

► Rabsca TEF 24's ability, Spherical Shield, protects our bench from "sniper" and "spread" attacks.

Recursive "Rule Box" Pokémon

Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 is a key piece because of its ability, Flip the Script, which draws 3 cards if one of our Pokémon is knocked out by the opponent.

Trainers

Supporter to Filter Items and Tools

This card is how we'll get our Battle VIP Pass FST 225 on the first turn, besides Wishful Baton BUS 128 to support Entei LOT 47 if the opponent knocks it out. The Baton essentially lets us move its energies to another Entei.

Supporter to Attach Energies

We'll need to discard up to 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from our hand to use this card. If we do, we can then draw 2 extra cards. We can also use it to attach energies to any Pokémon, not only Fire Pokémon.

Besides attaching energies to Entei LOT 47, we can combine this card with Fire Crystal UNB 173 to recycle energies from the discard pile.

Items to Get Pokémon

► Battle VIP Pass FST 225 only works on our very first turn but lets us get 2 basic Pokémon from our deck and put them on our bench. After that, it's "dead weight", but we can discard it to play cards like Ultra Ball, Fiery Flint, and Secret Box.

► Ultra Ball BRS 150 lets us get any Pokémon from our deck if we discard 2 cards from our hand.

Items to Recycle Cards

► Ordinary Rod SSH 171 lets us:

Either recycle 2 Pokémon or 2 basic energies and shuffle them into our deck.

Or do both at the same time.

► Energy Recycler BST 124 recycles 5 basic energies from the discard pile and shuffles them back into the deck. This way, we'll still have resources in our deck in the late game or end game.

► Fire Crystal UNB 173 recycles up to 3 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from the discard pile and shuffles them back into our deck.

► VS Seeker PHF 109 lets us recycle 1 supporter from the discard pile. We'll mostly use it to recycle Welder UNB 189.

Tool

This card lets us move up to 3 basic energies from a knocked-out Pokémon to another Pokémon.

Stadiums

► Heat Factory ◇ LOT 178 draws 3 cards for us if we discard 1 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230.

► Scorched Earth PRC 138 draws 2 cards for us if we discard 1 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230.

ACE SPEC

Hyper Aroma TWM 152 lets us get multiple stage 1 Pokémon from our deck, such as Ninetales TEU 16, Rabsca TEF 24, and Gumshoos MEG 110.

Other Pokémon We Can Use

► Oranguru SSH 148 is a basic alternative to Gumshoos MEG 110, but you'll need more energies to retreat it, so you'll have to add extra support for it as well.

► Magcargo CES 24 also puts cards on the top of the deck, but you'll also need more energies to retreat it, so you'll need Air Balloon BLK 79 or Float Stone BKT 137 to use it.

► Salazzle UNB 31 draws cards, which is always great.

Pros

This deck gets going pretty early, so it's quite aggressive. It can also easily knock out "baby" Pokémon, as it deals 200 damage quite often.

Ninetales TEU 16 is like a Boss's Orders, so it's very versatile and saves space in the deck.

Finally, everything in it interacts really well, particularly Gumshoos MEG 110, which always lets us deal at least 140 damage.

Cons

It is slow against Rule Box Pokémon in Expanded and also vulnerable to water archetypes, like Gyarados TEU 30 and Kingdra sv4 32.

It is weak against Pyroar FLF 20 and Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71.

It is also vulnerable to strategies that sabotage the bench, like Avery CRE 130.

This deck is great if you have just started exploring the Expanded format, as well as quite cheap and interesting, mechanics-wise. It also reuses old cards, like Entei LOT 47, but also some new ones, like Gumshoos MEG 110. As such, it is both unique and accessible.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!