Standard Deck Tech: Zekrom + Flaaffy - Top 2 at the Brisbane Regionals

Hello everybody. I'm Rodrigo, bringing news about the Pokémon TCG and its vast media.

With the focus on the Brisbane Regional, in Australia, let's talk about the deck that conquered second place, used by the Indonesian player Joel Suryadi.

This list is very interesting and with simple cards, almost like “baby” Pokémon, and it piqued the curiosity of many, rescuing an undervalued card from Vivid Voltage, Zekrom.

Decklist

Zekrom: the main attacker

1) Attack - Slash (C)(C): Deals 30 damage.

2) Attack - Wild Shock (L)(L)(C): Deals 130 damage and deal 60 damage to itself. Also, the opponent's Active Pokémon is now paralyzed.

The trick here is to paralyze the enemy, so you don't lose your Pokémon due to the recoil effect, you use Scoop Up Net RCL 165 to take it out of play and return it to your hand.

Energy attached to it will be discarded, but then Flaaffy EVS 55 will come in as an Energy Recharger (more on that later).

Regieleki: second attacker by sniper

1) Attack - Static Shock (C): Deals 20 damage.

2) Attack - Teraspark (L)(L)(C): Discard all Energy attached to this Pokémon. It deals 120 damage, and you also choose two Benched Pokémon that deal 40 damage (Weakness and Resistance aren't applied on the Bench).

Again, energy discarded in the attack will be repurposed by Flaaffy EVS 55.

Regieleki comes in as a "sniper" to close some damage gaps in certain situations.

Raikou V: the third striker

1) Ability - Fleet Footed: If this Pokémon is in Active Position during your turn, draw another card.

2) Attack - Lightning Rondo (L)(C): Deals 20 damage plus 20 for each Benched Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent's).

Assuming there are 5 Pokémon on your bench and the opponent's, with Raikou it will have a total of 200 damage (100 and 100) plus 20 base damage, 220 damage, which is potent and aggressive.

Medicham V: the fourth attacker

1) Attack - Yoga Loop (C)(C): It deals 2 damage counters to 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. And if that attack does any knockouts that way, you can roll again on your turn, ignoring your opponent's turn.

2) Attack - Smash Uppercut (F)(C)(C): Deals 100 damage and are unaffected by resistance.

This is where the magic happens: the first attack of Medicham V serves to close the gap damage that Zekrom and Regieleki are causing to opponents, and the more counters they have on the verge of a knockout, Medicham V uses the first attack to deal two damage counters and closes this knockout.

Minor Recursive Pokémon

- Zapdos PGO 29 comes in with Lightning Symbol, where it grants 10 more damage to your basic Electric-type Pokémon.

- Radiant Greninja ASR 46 has Concealed Cards, where you can discard an Energy card from your hand to draw 2 cards from the top of your deck.

It's basically mandatory to have this Pokémon to draw cards, with this "Draw Power" synergy in the current format, which has synergy with Flaaffy!

- Snorlax LOR 143 has Unfazed Fat, which makes it a blocker. It prevents all attack effects from your opponent's Pokémon.

- Manaphy BRS 41 comes in as a Bench Protector thanks to its ability Wave Veil, which protects your bench from sniper damage.

- Flaaffy EVS 55 has Dynamotor, which per turn, this Pokémon can fetch a basic Electric Energy from the discard pile for one of your Benched Pokémon.

It's literally one of the most important gears in the deck for accelerating energies, so preserve them!

- Crobat V SHF 44 has its ability Dark Asset, which if put from your hand to your bench, you draw until you have 6 cards in your hand.

Trainer Cards

- Professor's Research BRS 147 is the draw accelerator: you discard your hand and draw 7 new cards.

- Serena SIT 164 is a card with two options:

1) You can discard up to 3 cards from your hand. Draw a specific number of cards until having up to 5 in your hand.

2) You can force an opponent's Benched Pokémon V into Active Position.

- Marnie CPA 56 shuffles your hand and your opponent's hand to the bottom of the deck. Then your opponent draws 4 cards, and you draw 5 cards.

- Boss's Orders BRS 132 serves to pull a specific Pokémon from the opponent's Bench to deal damage for victory, speeding up the prize cards.

- Escape Rope BST 125 is a card that serves "almost like a Guzma", but a bit softer, where you make the opponent choose to switch a Pokémon from Benched to Active Position, and you then do the same. The difference is that this card gives the choice for the opponent to switch, unlike a Cross Switcher FST 230.

- Scoop Up Net RCL 165 is used to collect a Pokémon that is not GX or V from the game to your hand, thus looping the damage with Galarian Zigzagoon SSH 117.

- Ultra Ball BRS 150 searches for any Pokémon in the deck, at the tribute of discarding two cards from your hand.

- Level Ball BST 129 searches for any Pokémon that has 90 HP or less, such as Mareep CRE 47 and Flaaffy EVS 55.

- Quick Ball FST 237 is used to search a basic Pokémon from the deck with the Tribute cost of discarding a card from your hand.

- Ordinary Rod SSH 171 is precisely the recycling of basic energy resources and Pokémon in your discard pile, being able to choose one of two options or both, which are:

1) Retrieve two Pokémon from the discard pile and put them in the deck.

2) Recover two basic energies from the discard pile and put them in the deck.

- Air Balloon SSH 156 reduces the Pokémon's retreat cost by two energy.

- Stormy Mountains EVS 161 Fetches a Dragon or Electric-type Pokémon from the deck and puts it on your Bench.

In that case, it will put Electric-types like Mareep CRE 47 to set up the discard power-up setup.

Special Energies

- Speed Lightning Energy RCL 173 works only for electric types, where if attached to them, you draw 2 cards.

Advantages

The main focus of the deck is the paralysis condition, which is one of the worst bad statuses there is, to lock the opponent, which helps with buying time for the next plays. In addition to the sniper damage that can be generated by Regieleki combo with closing turns with Medicham V doing specific knockouts.

We can also reuse electric energies from the discard pile thanks to Flaaffy.

It also works as a good counter against Lugia due to its weakness to electric-type.

Disadvantages

- Control decks like Mewtwo VUnion.

- Decks that use sniper attacks if you don't have Manaphy BRS 41 to protect your game.

- Decks that have Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 and are assembled quickly and manage to do too many knockouts before setting up your strategy.

- Mew VMAX FST 114 decks that can use all of its attacks that can be copied, giving more versatility to specific damages.

- One Hit KO strategies such as Yveltal SHF 46.

It's a pretty amazing deck with cards that are so simple to use, so common and so forgotten that they've gained such notoriety and importance, showing again that in the world of the Pokémon TCG, anything is possible.

And now it's up to you: what do you think of the deck? What are your considerations and opinions about it? Feel free to comment below on the site!

Until next time!