We are hitting the point where the sun is finally breaking out and new decks are being created. Several new cards from BREAKpoint are finally usable in the Standard format which means we will be seeing a lot of new and exciting decks. That means we are going to see a lot of decks trying to break out and really become a thing in the standard meta. Which deck will reach the point of becoming well known and feared? That is a question we will see answered in the next few weeks as Regionals come to a close and we see our Standard meta revving up towards Nationals.
This week we are going to feature a deck that has a lot of fire. It is this fire that keeps the star of this deck going deep into battle. This Pokemon has finally came down from it’s perch from high above to take part in the battle that is bring together two different worlds. Thought this Pokemon won’t be alone as it will have speed as fast as lightning to turbo charge itself. You may not even see it coming as things get turn up to high gear and the fire gets turn up.
So get ready to learn about a deck that is going to be breaking out! It is going to set the Standard format ablaze with a strike of lightning! This week we are going to spotlight a deck featuring Ho-Oh EX!
Decklist
Pokemon- 14
Manectric EX x4
M Manectric EX x3
Ho-Oh EX x2
Shaymin EX
Manaphy EX
Smeargle x2
RaikouTrainers- 35
Professor Sycamore x4
Professor Birch’s Observations x2
Lysandre x2
AZ
Xerosic
Hex Maniac
VS Seeker x4
Ultra Ball x4
Trainers’ Mail x4
Battle Compressor x3
Manectric Spirit Link x3
Fighting Spirit Belt x2
Buddy Buddy Rescue
Rough Seas x3Energy- 11
Lightning x5
Grass x2
Fire x2
Water x2Deck list by Jeremy “Kidd” Lopez
Deck Breakdown
This deck wants to get Ho-Oh EX out as fast as possible. In order to do that, you want to get M Manectric out on your second turn ready to use Turbo Bolt. There are enough Battle Compressor in the deck where you can use them early to get some Grass, Fire Lightning and Water into your discard. That way M Manectric EX can use Turbo Bolt to get those energy on to Ho-Oh EX. After that, simply manually attach some energy to Ho-oh EX to start attacking.
The main strength of this deck is the flexibility between powerful attackers in this deck. You can easily set up a M Manectric EX by your second turn which means you will be hitting for 110 damage. M Manectric EX is a solid attacker that can dish out damage quickly while setting up another attacker. That other attacker will be Ho-Oh EX who can use Elemental Feather to deal out 130 damage while doing 30 damage to one of your opponent’s benched Pokemon. If you have Fighting Fury Belt attached to Ho-Oh EX then this extra damage could be used to set up future knock outs on 170 HP Pokemon such as Giratina EX. Even better, Ho-Oh EX could last a long time in battle thanks to the extra HP it gains from Fighting Fury Belt and the constant healing from it’s Purifying Fire. If things get rough for Ho-Oh EX then simply change to M Manectric EX to take care of any threats that Ho-Oh EX can’t handle. If the fire gets too hot for M Manectric EX then switch back out to Ho-Oh EX who should be ready to battle after healing on the bench.
Smeargle from BREAKthrough is a must have supporter Pokemon in this deck because it helps the deck preform at it’s best thanks to Recoat. Smeargle’s Recoat ability allows you to switch one of the energy attached to your active Pokemon with one in the discard. This will allow you to swap one of Ho-Oh EX’s energy with a Fire energy in order to activate Ho-Oh EX’s Purifying Fire ability. This ability will allow Ho-Oh EX to heal 50 damage from itself which means it can stay in battle for a long time. Especially if you attach Fighting Fury Belt to Ho-Oh EX to boost it’s HP to 220 HP. The ideal situation is that you will have two Smeargle on your bench so you can swap out an energy with a Fire Energy to heal with Purifying Fire with one Smeargle and then use the second Smeargle to trade the Fire energy for whatever energy you need in order to attack with Ho-Oh EX.
Another interesting supporting characters in this deck includes Manaphy EX who can give free retreat to everything in the deck as long as it has a Water energy. This is all thanks to Manaphy EX’s Aqua Tube Ability. This gives the deck even more flexibility as you swap your active Ho-oh EX with a fresh attacker. Manaphy EX’s ability helps give an extra pro to playing so many different types of energy in the deck. After all, you will need a Water energy to attack using Ho-Oh EX.
This deck may struggle with Fighting decks such as Lucario-Bat due to M Manectric EX’s Fighting weakness. Lucario EX can hit M Manectric EX hard and damage from Golbat and Crobat’s Sneaky Bite and Surprise Bite could be enough to knock out M Manectric EX. In this case, you will want to quickly set up a M Manectric EX and simply expect it to go down just as fast. Though before that M Manctric EX goes down, make sure to get a Ho-Oh EX ready to attack because it will be key in coming out on top of Lucario-Bats. Ho-oh EX resist Lucario EX so it won’t be going down so quickly. It can also heal off damage from Golbat and Crobat. Lastly, the extra HP from Fighting Fury Belt will simply make it hard to take down. This should be enough to allow Ho-oh EX to outlive Lucario EX while spreading damage to benched Golbat and perhaps take a knockout on one of them. The constant healing may just be enough to allow Ho-Oh EX weather the barrage of bites and punches.
The Trainer line of this deck is all about speed as it is going to dig into the deck to get what is needed. You will have Trainers’ Mail to grab trainers that you may need such as Manectric Spirit Link to evolve your Manectric EX or Battle Compressor to put energy, supporters and even Pokemon into the discard. The reason why you want to put Pokemon in the discard is so you can retrieve them quickly by using Buddy Buddy Rescue. This could surprise your opponent as they won’t see you pull a Ho-Oh EX or Shaymin EX out of your discard thanks to Buddy Buddy Rescue. You will be playing out of the discard a lot thanks to Battle Compressor, VS Seeker, Buddy Buddy Rescuse and M Manectric EX. It is mostly because of Battle Compressor that you deck will be thin enough to get what you need from your top decks and Trainers’ Mail.
This deck will surely use Ho-Oh EX to raise from the ashes and put your opponent though the fire. This deck will attack fast with M Manectric EX and have Ho-Oh EX clean up the rest of the prizes with it’s fiery passion to live. This deck surely will strike like lightning and hurt like fire as the match goes on. So go ahead and give this deck a try and see how Ho-Oh EX can ignite your game!
