Kingdra ex δ

Overview

This deck attacks with multiple Kingdra ex δ in play, stacking Extra Smoke to negate low-damage attacks. Kingdra ex δ has many desirable properties: a high 140 HP stat coupled with Extra Smoke's damage reduction, a low 1 Retreat Cost atypical of such high-HP Pokémon, Energy Link which recovers Energy from the discard pile, and an efficient 80 damage for 3 Energy attack.

Ideal Gameplan

Holon Mentor for anything that you're missing out of Horsea/Pidgey (to evolve into their Stage 2s), Jirachi/Holon's Castform (to set up), and Holon's Magnemite (if you need Energy to retreat or Delta Draw). Start building towards Pidgeot or Kingdra ex δ. If your opponent is not too aggressive or disruptive, building Pidgeot first is preferred since you can quickly flood the board with more Stage 2s once you have access to Quick Search for Rare Candy, but if your opponent is pressuring you hard, get Kingdra ex δ out and go toe-to-toe with them.

Kingdra ex δ is a DPS check. It has a huge amount of HP and Extra Smoke to make it that much harder to KO. It's no slouch in the attacking department either. Energy Link into Protective Swirl is already 120 damage, which is enough to KO most non-ex's that don't resist it. 2 Protective Swirls is 160 damage, and most Pokémon, even the toughest ex's, don't exceed 150 HP. Even with Resistance, 2 Swirls does 100 damage and can KO Pidgeot. After you've gotten 3 Energy onto Kingdra, you're looking to spam Protective Swirl and 2HKO anything they put out.

The more Kingdra you're able to get into play, the more stacks of Extra Smoke you'll have, and the harder it is for your opponent to break through. Try to keep damaged Kingdra alive on your Bench instead of sacrificing them, as they are still able to contribute via Extra Smoke. If your opponent tries to bypass Kingdra with Bench attacks, you have Dugtrio to defend against that.

Unique Points

Kingdra ex δ's Energy Link gets Energy back from the discard. Try to discard actual Energy (instead of Holon's Magnemite) when retreating, or when using Holon Mentor, so Kingdra can Energy Link for value later. Also note that you can use Holon's Castform to return an Energy from the field to your hand as discard fodder. Just one Energy in the discard is enough to get going; after the first Energy Link you'll be spamming Protective Swirl, and subsequent Energy will find its way into the discard naturally if your first Kingdra gets KOed.

One sequence you have is retreating your Active Kingdra, bringing up another one, and using Energy Link to get back the Energy you discarded for the Retreat Cost. This is useful for clearing Special Conditions or effects of attacks, or getting a damaged Kingdra out, without losing Energy on board.

This deck has Mewtwo δ, a tech Basic Pokémon that lets you rearrange your Fighting Energy (and only Fighting Energy; it can't move Warps or Holon's Pokémon). This is a layer of protection against Pow, and a way of getting excess Energy off Kingdra ex δ (if, say, it's about to be KOed, or you Energy Linked or attached a Warp Energy when it already had 3 Energy on it). You can search for it with Holon Mentor, grabbing a Holon's Pokémon along with it.

Mewtwo δ can also attack with Energy Burst against Pokémon that have lots of Energy attached, like Exeggutor or the Water-type Rayquaza δ. Note that you can't move Energy onto Mewtwo with its own Power, so you can only start attacking with it 1 turn after you play it.

This deck has the Warp Energy + free retreater (Pidgeot) combo, so if Kingdra ex δ gets affected by a Special Condition, you can attach a Warp to it, switch to Pidgeot, and retreat back to Kingdra.

Dugtrio can attack in a pinch, and you don't need Holon's Castform to pay for its costs; Fighting Energy works fine.

It won't come up very often, but Horsea δ's Ram into Steady Firebreathing can KO Jirachi.

Tweaks

Espeon δ (replacing Dugtrio): Heals Kingdra ex δ, soft counters Desert Ruins. Can be thought of as an additional Extra Smoke effect that's a bit easier to set up because it's on a Stage 1. Can hit Latios ex δ and Celebi ex for Weakness, trapping them for a 2-Prize KO if you flip heads on Psyshock and they don't have a switch card to get it out. You can also play other Eeveelutions as techs once you have Eevees in your deck.

Fearow δ + Holon Researcher (replacing Pidgeot + Professor Elm's Training Method): δ Pokémon searchers. Less reliant on Rare Candy, but slower to set up, and vulnerable to Cursed Stone into Rayquaza ex δ Special Circuit KOing it in 1 turn. If you're using Fearow δ, play more copies of Seadra δ, and also consider switching Dugtrio for Cloyster δ.

Latios ex δ: Free retreater and anti-ex wall.

δ Rainbow Energy: If you're playing any of the above δs and can see yourself attacking with them. Cut Mewtwo δ if you're playing this.

Strengths

Kingdra ex δ's Protective Swirl does 80 damage, and matches up well against Stage 1 decks that typically have that amount of HP on their attackers.

This deck has lots of answers to Pow: Warp Energy/Warp Point to switch out anything that was dragged Active, Mewtwo δ to rearrange Energy, and Giant Stump to discard vulnerable Pow targets like leftover Jirachi. To increase your resilience against Pow, try to attack with Pokémon that don't have Holon's Castform attached, so your opponent can't move 2 Energy with 1 Pow.

This deck is quite resistant to Energy removal (e.g. ER2, Numel's Kindle), since Energy Link can get back discarded Energy, and its reliance on Holon's Castform is low, so you're usually not losing 2 Energy at a time to a single discard effect.

Kingdra ex δ matches up well against the popular Bombtar deck. Extra Smoke reduces damage done to Benched Kingdra by Spinning Tail (all the way down to 0 if you have two of them in play, reducing reliance on Dugtrio). It also takes you out of 1HKO range of Bite Off, even if Dark Tyranitar has multiple Darkness Energy attached. Kingdra hits Dark Tyranitar for Weakness, forcing it to have Holon Energy FF + basic Fire Energy to avoid getting 1HKOed by Protective Swirl.

Weaknesses

This deck is very weak to Rayquaza ex δ, as it hits almost everything for Weakness and/or the 20 bonus damage (and both are applicable to your Stage 2s!). Protective Swirl removes Weakness, but costs 3 Energy and is hard to set up when you're eating Special Circuits every turn. Your plan against it is to get Dugtrio down so you can build a Kingdra with 3 Energy on it in peace, or spread your Energy attachments to lure your opponent into sniping each Pokémon you attached to, before dropping Mewtwo δ to consolidate all the Energy onto one Kingdra and going in with Protective Swirl.

Manectric ex poses a lot of problems. It sets up faster as it's a Stage 1, locks you out of using Holon Transceiver or Rare Candy, and 1-2HKOs everything you have. Energy Link doesn't 1HKO it from full health, and Seadra δ losing a Smokescreen flip means it gets 1HKOed. Infuriatingly, Dugtrio's Dig Under isn't affected by Weakness even when the target isn't Benched, rendering it unusable as a 2-Energy attacker. The deck also plays Pokémon Reversal, making it hard to build anything safely on your Bench.

Cessation Crystal shuts off a lot of Powers and Bodies that this deck uses, primarily Quick Search and Extra Smoke. Kingdra ex δ should still win most 1v1s against Crystal-equipped Pokémon (since they can't be ex's, and some of the usual suspects are weak to Fighting); just be aware that your opponent can slap on a Crystal and negate 10, 20, even 30 damage reduction at a moment's notice.