Pokémon TCG: Standard Ambipom Deck Tech

Hello everybody. I'm Rodrigo, bringing news from Pokémon TCG with decks based on the new July expansion, Pokémon GO.

We now have a deck that will likely make your opponents pull their hair out in anger, with a lot of "rage-quit" and even giving up at the last minute. We will discuss Ambipom, a Pokémon inside this deck that is fun only for those who are playing with it.

Shall we go to the list?

Deck Analysis

Let's start with the premise of the deck itself, which is simple: delay the game.

Ambipom PGO 57 has the ability called Primate Dexterity, which makes it have certain immunities from direct damage — that is, if the opponent tries to attack, you flip the coin and if heads, it is immune that turn for that damage it would receive. The deck's premise is precisely to frustrate the opponent with this. But for that, let's get into the mechanics of how to make this work:

1) It is essential for one Aipom PGO 56 on the field as a striker and another on the reserve bench (for guarantee). And then, at the same time, try to play one or two Bidoof BRS 120 and at least one Cherubi BST 7 and the usual Manaphy BRS 41, because of its passive Wave Velt , which grants protection to your Benched Pokémon if they take direct damage to them, that is, damage from Pokémon with a “spread” attack such as “snipers”.

2) After that, you will evolve Aipom PGO 56 to Ambipom PGO 57 to guarantee the use of the Primate Dexterity, and in that, your Bidoof BRS 120 can evolve to Bibarel BRS 121 to make the effect of the Industrious Incisors ability, which makes you can draw cards in your hand until you have five, and of course, can be applied to each Bibarel in play (having two on the field), and its draw acceleration is very high, improving your game.

Finally, so that your Ambipom PGO 57 can attack, in case special energies don't come, enter the evolution of Cherubi BST 7, Cherrim BST 8, with its ability Spring Bloom that powers basic plant energies from your hand into one of your Pokémon, except those that have a “Rule Box” (which this deck doesn't).

3) With that set up, as a primary objective, comes the complements with the Trainer cards, mainly the Stadium Glimwood Tangle DAA 162 which is perhaps the soul of the deck in this combo, as it has the effect of being able to redo the coin flip from any effects of your Pokémon's attacks, which is the case to apply to Ambipom PGO 57, if its Primate Dexterity ability hits tails, and the opponent can attack. So, with Stadium you redo the effect, until heads, and keep its immunity.

4) As a draw resource as another alternative besides the ability of Bidoof BRS 120, enters the card Blunder Policy BRS 131, which must be equipped in the Ambipom!

Its effect says that if equipped to this Pokémon whose attack is based on a coin flip-based effect, if it lands tails, you draw 3 cards.

"But what does it mean?"

Simple: The attack of Ambipom PGO 57, Full Tilt Fling, flips various coins based on the amount of energy until it hits tails and if these coins are heads, they deal 60 damage each.

So assuming it has 5 energies attached to it, and it happens to hit 5 coins, it's dealing 300 damage at once, not to mention the Stadium Glimwood Tangle add-on of replaying coins that happen to spoil your damage.

Trainer Cards

Now moving on to the Trainer cards part, analyzing the most important ones in the deck and their functions being applied in the situations described:

- The best discard/draw available today, Professor's Research BRS 147 enters with a filtering function of the deck to seek basic energies, taking that bad hand of yours and trying to draw a new hand with 7 cards, both energy for Ambipom to attack and the Pokémon themselves to make its setup and evolutions.

- Marnie SSH 169 serves as the opponent's control over their excessive amounts of cards in their hands. You have them put the cards to the bottom, shuffle them and only draw 4 cards, while you just shuffle your hand back into the deck and draw 5 cards, having a certain one card advantage against them.

- Bruno BST 121 is another absurd “Draw Power” resource, which shuffles your current hand and draws 4 cards, but if in the previous turn, any of your Pokémon was knocked out, instead of drawing 4 cards, you draw 7 cards.

In this case, this applies if any of your Benched Pokémon is KO'd by a Boss's Orders RCL 154 that destroys your own Bibarel or a Cherrim, causing Bruno to draw more cards.

- The Stadium card Glimwood Tangle DAA 162 is the heart of the deck, for manipulating the coin flips to benefit from Ambipom's effects on both its ability and its attack.

- Evolution Incense SSH 163 is exactly to look for evolutions that you need to speed up your game, be it Ambipom, Bibarel or even Cherrim.

- Energy Retrieval SSH 160 is used to rescue two energies from the discard pile and put it in your hand, making the specific combo with Cherrim BST 8's Spring Bloom, which attaches energies from your hand to any of your Pokémon (except those that don't have a "Rule Box").

- Ordinary Rod SSH 171 is the management and recycling of discard pile resources, being able to choose one of the two options or both, which are:

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

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

- Air Balloon SSH 156 is what guarantees the retreat cost of two colorless less on the Pokémon it has it attached to, and as most of these Pokémon are cheap, their retreat cost becomes free.

- And of course, the invaluable Choice Belt BRS 135 for closing damage against type V Pokémon in the general format (whether they are V, VMax, VStar or VUnion, it doesn't matter), with 30 more damage. And assuming in a good hypothetical situation, if your Ambipom is at 5 energies, hitting the 5 coins with heads and with this Tool equipped, it's 330 damage for free against the opponent (considering 60 x 5 for energies + 30 from the belt).

Special Energies

Now moving on to the special energies part:

- Twin Energy RCL 174 gives you two colorless energies, but they can't be equipped on Pokémon-V and Pokémon-GX, so since your deck has "baby" Pokémon, you don't have to worry, as it already helps in the acceleration to give more damage to Ambipom, guaranteeing at least 120 damage by hitting both coins.

- The Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 being better than Twin Energy, in addition to providing two colorless energies, it still gives 20 damage reduction from your opponent's attacks that attack the Pokémon that is equipped with them, that is, giving more sustainability to Ambipom.

- Capture Energy RCL 171 only enters to create a basic Pokémon search startup setup for your bench, so you can start building mechanics of your future turns progress, mainly for needing a Bidoof or a Cherubi.

Advantages

As it is a deck that aims to "stall" the opponent, it is excellent for testing the patience and limit of the player, who is frustrated in not being able to beat Ambipom, which is usually 75% of cases where players give up on continuing to play the match.

You can deal a good amount of damage, and with coin manipulation thanks to Glimwood Tangle DAA 162, your game is guaranteed, in addition to the protection of Manaphy BRS 41 against Pokémon that do "spread sniper" damage like Inteleon V FST 78, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX BST 88, Jolteon VMAX EVS 51, Blastoise VMAX PR-SW SWSH103.

Disadvantages

Pokémon that use massive damage counters like Mewtwo V-Union or Mimikyu VMax that can redistribute damage between your Pokémon become a problem, as if they knock out Manaphy BRS 41, for example, part of your game could be compromised, as Ambipom PGO 57 doesn't evade damage markers, only direct damage.

Another problem is special effects, which can bring down Ambipom, such as poisoning (dealing 10 damage per turn) and burning (dealing 20 damage per turn and flipping the coin if it hit tails, the effect remains).

Another card that can destroy Ambipom PGO 57 is Canceling Cologne ASR 136, which, until the end of your opponent's turn, inhibits any abilities of the Active Pokémon.

Of course, Physical-type Pokémon deal double damage against colorless types, which is the case with Ambipom PGO 57 and Bibarel BRS 121.

It's worth reminding that his deck has much more of a meme purpose than necessarily a competitive sense. It has been made for entertainment and casual tables rather than designed for high-level tournaments.

The assembly cost is also nice and accessible, just like the Lunatone + Solrock deck, already mentioned here on the site.

See you in the next review of Standard decks with cards from Pokémon GO, building on the hype of the new set! Until later.