Sabledonk Deck Discussion

By Kohrok

Hey guys, Kohrok back with a Deck Discussion on Pokezine!

Alright, so many of you may have been waiting for this – it’s the list that caused so much havoc and mayhem during the Spring Battle Roads in America! It’s a list that I found online, tweaked, and had a lot of fun with. Ultimately, I decided not to play it, because it really didn’t give me much of a good feeling inside, it didn’t feel very original, and overall, it just left the opposing player in a foul mood. I got to experience that last part in my games, so I definitely feel like I made the right choice not choosing it.

However, that’s not to say that people can’t learn from the deck, and try to take lessons away from strategies it used. Although the majority of the deck (IE over 90%) is being rotated, we can still look for new ways to build decks that don’t necessarily need Stage 2 attackers and tanks with 3 or 4 energy to win.

So here we go:

Pokemon:
4 Sableye
2 Crobat G
1 Regice
4 Unown R
1 Unown DARK
1 Unown Q
3 Uxie

Total: 16

Trainers/Supporters:
4 Pokedex Handy 910
4 Poke Drawer+
1 Expert Belt
4 Poke Turn
1 Seeker
1 Pokemon Collector
4 Poke Blower +
4 Super Scoop Up
2 Night Teleporter
4 Junk Arm
4 Dual Ball
4 Research Records
1 Alph Lithograph FOUR
1 Pokemon Contest Hall
3 Victory Medal

Total: 42

Energy:
1 Special Dark
1 Regular Dark

Total: 2

So there you have it – a 60 card list that is basically what I used.

Basic strategy is as follows:

Start with Sableye.

Win before your opponent gets a turn.

…So it’s not quite that simple, but that’s, in essence, the idea. You want to start with Sableye, which, mathematically speaking, will occur about 40% of the time. The other 60% then is half-chance that you’ll go first, so you actually are looking at almost 70% of the time going first. From there…

The opening:

You want to start strong, and using Dual Ball is the ideal way to do that. Pokedex, Unown R, and other cards for simple drawing are good, and using Junk Arm to allow your Uxie’s to “Set Up” for maximum effect are all part of the play. Don’t be afraid to use Poke Blower+ and flipping for a damage counter. Bench Crobat G’s, play your Pokéturns, and go crazy. Ideally, you should be able to get close to a knock-out on the defending Pokemon.

IMPORTANT: You should always place damage counters on the active Pokemon.

“Middle”:

If you get 2 Poke Drawer+’s, you can use both to get another 2, then go for Seeker and a Special Dark/Expert Belt/etc. You can then Seeker up one of their benched Pokemon, picking up your own Uxie/Crobat G, and if they have no bench left, get the knockout with Sableye’s Overconfident. Otherwise, rinse and repeat, using the Seeker or other trainers to deal extra damage.

“End”:

At this point, your deck should be thin, you should be very close to winning, and at this point, you have to go for the Knockout. Attack with Sableye (Or Uxie, if the opponent is weak to Psychic), and congratulate yourself. You’ve just played with the most broken deck ever to exist in a modified format. How’s it feel?

Sidenotes:

You may wonder why Regice (LA) is in the deck. The reason is this. If your opponent starts Spiritomb (AR), you can use Sableye’s Impersonate on Pokemon Collector to grab Regice and 2 other Pokemon. On your next turn, Regice’s “Regi Move” will get the Spiritomb out of the active slot, allowing you to play your trainers. Alternatively, you can counter Spiritomb by using Collector to grab Unown DARK, getting a Special Darkness energy, and using Overconfident T2 (after your opponent has used Darkness Grace) to get a prize lead, and make trainers available anyways.

Strengths:

Donks
Dark Types
Lots of Trainers

Weaknesses:

2 Energy
No Middle/Endgame
Bad prizes ruin you

So that’s it – I hope you liked reading this article. I don’t really like the deck, but it’s certainly a twist on the way Pokemon used to be played. Hopefully, this will never be in another usable format, and if you ever play in an Unlimited Format event, you won’t have to see this. But if you do want to use it, here it is. A Deck that wins on the first turn, an overwhelming majority of the time. My personal record is beating 4 benched Pokémon with 60hp or less – What’s yours?