A New Spark, For An Old Flame!

Introduction

A similar deck previously sparked interest during last years BKT-BUS format when Pikachu EX was first brought into the rogue category partnered with Magnezone’s Magnetic Circuit, due to the introduction of large HP Pokemon such as Metagross and Decidueye GX. It saw a fair bit of play at League Challenges and Cups, getting numerous top placed finishes in the process, it was important to note at that time ability-lock was everywhere with Drampa/Garbodor and Buzzwole/Garbodor seeing an increase of play. With the odds stacked against it, the deck saw very little play afterwards in the format. With the most recent release of Unbroken Bonds we have been given a chance to revisit the archetype, which in the current meta without a hard ability lock like Garbodor for all Pokemon, the chance for Magnetic Circuit to strive in the coming Tag Team GX meta.

Magnezone - Forbidden Light - FLI 36

Magnetic Circuit has already seen quite a bit of play in the past few formats this season, mainly being popular with Metal Pokemon and the corresponding Magnezone. But thanks to the alternate type reprint in Forbidden Light we have an opportunity to partner this with Electric type Pokemon in which we did not have many strong attackers for until recently with the releases of Team Up and Unbroken Bonds. The biggest issue which has been the same with many decks with similar archetypes is the set up of the Stage 2 Pokemon, as finding turn 2 Rare Candy and Magnezone can be incredibly hard. This was an issue previously with the deck as there was no specific item search, but with cards like Volkner and Steven’s Resolve it allows you to get set up and ready for either a Turn 2 Magnezone without having to burn through as many cards. This shows promise for Stage 2 archetypes going forward especially with cards like Acro Bike, Dedenne GX and the added support of Volkner allow it to be really easy to find the pieces from within your deck.

In the previous SUM-TEU format Pikachu & Zekrom Tag Team (PikaRom) and Zapdos/Jolteon GX was the main issue with decks that required a lot of set up with the deck being able to knockout the active Pokemon and a benched Pokemon usually with ease, this was the reason why decks like Granbull and Magnezone was not played prior. With the release of Mew from Unbroken Bonds this allows you to have a stronger match up against PikaRom and other spread decks, which can run through single prized decks with ease after Electropowers and Flying Flips would cause an insane amount of damage really early on.

With having added consistency and protection now for Stage 2 Pokemon in the current format. I believe that these types of decks can see an increase of play as long as they have relevant attackers which can deal with these big Tag Team GX Pokemon, which thanks to Unbroken Bonds we have the reincarnation of Pikachu EX that can leave these decks scrambling. Instead of a powerful GX two prizer, what if it was a single prized attacker that can hit extraordinary outputs of damage? Welcome, Zeraora.

Zeraora - Unbroken Bonds - UNB 60

Zeraora has 120hp which is a little disappointing coming from a lot of legendaries and mythical Pokemon that have 130hp but I suppose if it had more HP then it would probably be a little more overpowered, it already takes two Electropowers to knockout with a Zapdos, so it is quite strong from that aspect but will easily be knocked out by a Zoroark or Giratina. The first attack for a single lightning energy does 20 damage and discards a special energy from your opponents active Pokemon, which will cause issue for Zoroark decks in the early stages if they are not careful in their early energy attachments. It can be quite disruptive against any deck that runs special energies as they will be a lot harder to recycle than basic energy. The second attack for Zeraora is Discharge, which is a very similar attack to Overspark on Pikachu EX which does 50x damage the amount of lightning energy discarded from this Pokemon. This is the money-shot, it is incredibly easy with Magnezone’s ability to attach up to 5/6 energy a turn to knockout a Tag Team Pokemon in one hit. We are able to do this continuously by running a high amount of energy in the deck and using high counts of cards like Fisherman, Energy Retrieval and Lady to bring back energy from the discard and help find hiding energy from within the deck as well. With these cards it allows consistency in attacking with your Zeraora’s constantly and keeps pressure on your opponent at all times. With the single retreat cost there is no real need to run any switching cards as it does not feel band attaching and retreating with the energy recycle and constant energy flooding the board with Magnezone’s Magnetic Circuit.

Here is a provisional deck list that I have put together from my testing and theory so far: 

Pokemon (13):

4 Zeraora UNB

3 Magnemite FLI

3 Magnezone FLI

1 Mew UNB

1 Tapu Koko Prism TEU

1 Dedenne GX UNB

Trainers (37):

4 Cynthia ULP

4 Lillie ULP

2 Guzma BUS

2 Fisherman CES

1 Lady FLI

1 Volkner ULP

4 Ultra Ball SUM

4 Nest Ball SUM

4 Energy Retrieval SUM

4 Rare Candy CES

3 Acro Bike CES

2 Rescue Stretcher GRI

2 Shrine of Punishment CES

Energy (10) :

10 Electric Energy

In terms of Match ups I believe that the deck can handle anything that offers more than one prize for a knockout but I can see issues if single prized decks that can be more consistent see a lot of play, especially those that run mainly basic Pokemon such as Zapdos/Jirarchi or BuzzGarbShrine. But the majority of these decks will have a consistency issue, especially with the new archetype of Baby Blacephalon (Baby Cakes), which this Magnezone deck is very similar with the damage output but allows playing stronger draw supporters than welders. It is far too early in the format to be identifying how strong specific match ups are but it is an archetype which I will be considering taking to events over the format.

Although I have spoken about this deck and its feasibility going into the new format this weekend and beyond as a competitive deck, it has to be one of the most fun decks I have tested prior to competitive legality and is based on an older deck which was good in a previous format.

Thanks for reading this small write up on a deck I am planning on putting some effort into for the next quarter as my pet deck, I look forward to seeing you guys at events in the next coming quarter and good luck for all those going for their Worlds Qualification!

Charlie