Trainers! Trainers for States

The heart and soul of any great deck is its trainers. Even decks that run the silliest Pokemon lines still stand a solid chance if they’ve built their trainer base correctly. With the EX wave dropping into the format there are a few trainers that I think will spike in popularity before states.

The card that a lot of people have been talking about is Lost Remover. Its an important addition into your deck to get rid of Double Colorless Energy, which every EX is going to use. The card that people aren’t talking about is Crushing Hammer. Lets do some Pro-Con work here. Lost Remover is a guarantee removal of a special energy. Crushing Hammer flips a coin to remove any energy. So we can’t count on Crushing Hammer but it has more playability. How to pick between these two? Really it comes down to Junk Arms. If you’re running Junk Arm, and you like to push chance, I think Crushing Hammer is the better pick.  I’d run something like one or two Lost Removers and then three to four Crushing Hammers.

Second pick is Switch. Now before you disregard this entire paragraph because you think you know what switch does let me explain my thinking. Your opponent is most likely running Pokemon Catchers. Now Catcher is a great card, no one should say otherwise, but it’s a one trick pony. You catch up something you want to one hit KO or you catch up some threat that you want to put first damage on. But Switch! Switch is a magic shop full of tricks. Its an ideal counter to Catcher for starters. After someone has just removed your energy so you can’t retreat, you can pull something back to the bench and hopefully bring up a ready attacker. Its big draw for me in the Mewtwo EX deck I’ve been playing is its ability to get out of status conditions. Nothing has felt worse for me in Pokemon, then having to give up two prizes because I’ve been paralyzed turn after turn. Switch is a strong card with a lot of options and is worth running 2 to 3 in your deck.

The final card is Max Potion. I know, I know. What weird combo did I build up to make Max Potion and EXs work?! There is no combo. If you’re going to be retreating to keep your EX alive why not Max Potion them before you start resetting them up. Max Potion is also an amazing card to play with Mewtwo EX who only needs a double colorless to use energy ball. Since its release Max Potion has been scarcely played and I think this format with EX’s is its best time to shine.

Good luck to one and all as states is fast approaching. If you’re play testing with anyone and notice something cool or something you think might be difficult to get around post it in the comments below.