Introduction

With Pokemon’s newest set, Pitch Black, around the corner, it is prerelease season. I’ve been trying to hit up two each release, but this time I only managed one. It was a fantastic time, but I wish there was more. This prerelease was a strange one. I ended up with the worst deck from the batch, but I still had a blast. If you can still attend a prerelease, I urge you to go. I am huge advocate of supporting your LGS, but please use my TCG Player affiliate link for those odd singles you are still looking for. Stay away from sealed product til the market cools.

Table of Contents

The Decks

Maraidon

The Maraidon deck I wanted to pull. Not because the card was my favorite, but because it was the deck I understood the most. Its ability is very powerful in a limited format like this. All you need to do is build Maraidon, and it lets you keep momentum while you build Vikabolt. To salt the wound, I ended up some cards that would have made this deck pop off I pulled it. If you are a newer player, this is probably the deck you want because it is the most strait forward and easy to set up. It also has a decent amount of consistency.

Decklist

• Pokémon: 14
• 4 Grubbin M5 2
• 3 Charjabug M5 24
• 3 Vikavolt M5 25
• 4 Miraidon M5 27
• Trainer: 15
• 4 Hilda WHT 84
• 2 Lillie’s Determination ASC 192
• 2 Brock’s Scouting JTG 146
• 1 Emcee’s Hype DRI 163
• 2 Ultra Ball ASC 213
• 2 Rare Candy MEG 125
• 2 Poké Pad POR 81
• Energy: 11
• 7 Lightning Energy MEE 4
• 4 Volt Lightning Energy M5 80

Dhelmise

Now I didn’t play anyone with the Dhelmise deck, but I and everyone around me pulled a lot of support for this deck. If you pull this deck, you are probably going to have a good time. At least a better time than pulling Slowbro. Had I pulled enough cards, I would have converted Slowbro to a Hide ‘n’ Sneak because it just seems powerful. Dhelmise does have that restriction where it doesn’t do much damage without a graveyard full of Hide ‘n’ Sneak pokemon, but that is very easy to pull off with a couple of well placed greatballs or sacrifices. You also get Banette, which is a very powerful card in limited.

Deck List

• Pokémon: 18
• 4 Shuppet M5 31
• 4 Banette M5 32
• 4 Poltchageist M5 5
• 4 Sinistcha M5 6
• 1 Dhelmise M5 37
• 1 Spiritomb M5 33
• Trainer: 13
• 3 Gwynn M5 78
• 2 Hilda WHT 84
• 4 Iris’s Fighting Spirit ASC 190
• 4 Ultra Ball ASC 213
• Energy: 9
• 7 Psychic Energy MEE 5
• 2 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88

Bastiodon

Now this deck was very annoying to deal with. While it doesn’t do crazy amounts of damage, it does negate a lot of it. This deck is basically an autowin against Slowbro, but most other decks will have a hard time dealing with its ability. Most pokemon attacks use two energy. You either have to attach an extra and hope you can build up another pokemon, or you lose. My slowbro did nothing to this deck because I wasn’t able to build up three energy.

Fossil Pokemon haven’t popped off because fossils aren’t considered items, and there is no reliable way to search for them. This means you are always relying on chance, and chances are, you aren’t building faster than the top meta decks. The Fossil Excavation Site stadium seems like a step in the right direction, but will it be enough? I don’t think it will shake the meta, but it will make for some fun decks. Fossil Excavation Site

Fossil Excavation Site

Once during each player’s turn, that player may search their deck for up to 2 Item cards that have “Antique” in their name and put them onto their Bench. Then, that player shuffles their deck.

Decklist

• Pokémon: 9
• 4 Skarmory M5 58
• 2 Shieldon M5 59
• 3 Bastiodon M5 60
• Trainer: 21
• 4 Antique Armor Fossil M5 72
• 3 Lillie’s Determination ASC 192
• 2 Philippe CRI 79
• 2 Team Rocket’s Petrel ASC 207
• 1 Hilda WHT 84
• 1 Emcee’s Hype DRI 163
• 2 Rare Candy MEG 125
• 2 Poké Pad POR 81
• 1 Energy Search POR 72
• 3 Fossil Excavation Site M5 79
• Energy: 10
• 8 Metal Energy MEE 8
• 2 Magnetic Metal Energy CRI 85

Slowbro

Now I love my Slowbro promo. I was actually chasing Slowbro for my personal collection, but the experience was a miserable one. I actually took out a slowbro line for my boy Annihilape and regret nothing. This deck was so hard to work. Emptying your hand for that extra damage was hard to pull off. Even when I did manage to pull off the extra damage, it was almost never worth it. Building to three energy for Zen Headbutt is a waste, and Ignition Energy is cool if you can find it.

I added a Mega Chandelure ex line and that Annihilape, which did most of the work. This deck only felt fine in the mirror match, but we ended up pulling out our standard decks instead. Most of the people who also pulled Slowbro shared my sentiment. If you pull this deck, at least you’ll have a cute card to add to your collection. The other decks seemed more fun to play. At least I got some cards for a deck I am trying to build, and Chandelure was fun the one time I got it out.

Decklist

• Pokémon: 12
• 4 Slowpoke M5 28
• 4 Slowbro M5 29
• 2 Type: Null M5 67
• 2 Silvally M5 68
• Trainer: 21
• 3 Hilda WHT 84
• 2 Team Rocket’s Petrel ASC 207
• 2 Brock’s Scouting JTG 146
• 1 Lillie’s Determination ASC 192
• 1 AZ’s Tranquility CRI 76
• 4 Ultra Ball ASC 213
• 2 Poké Pad POR 81
• 2 Energy Search POR 72
• 1 Energy Recycler DRI 164
• 1 Air Balloon ASC 181
• 2 Prism Tower CRI 80
• Energy: 7
• 3 Psychic Energy MEE 5
• 2 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
• 2 Ignition Energy WHT 86

Conclusion

This was probably my least favorite of the prereleases. The promos weren’t very exciting and Slowbro wasn’t very fun to play. That said, it was really nice to see the friends I’ve made since starting this whole thing. And sadly, no I didn’t pull anything cool. These events have never been about pulling the expensive card I’ll never sell. It is about playing Pokemon with other people who just want to have a good time.