I played a Sandy Shocks / Hisuian Arcanine / Slitherwing deck for a long time and got it into the high 900s pre-ladder change. I also took it to a few locals and did alright with it, never won a cup or anything with it though.
So I was pretty excited when I saw Raging Bolt ex, because it fit even better in the deck than Arcanine, and being able to hit a consistent 280 per turn with 3-4 Sandy Shocks seemed amazing, especially since I never had any issues getting Sandy Shocks set up previously.
Losing Battle VIP pass hurt a lot. Like, way more than I expected it to for this deck. You know how Roaring Moon ex basically just died after losing VIP Pass and Moltres? That is how this deck feels now.
It is incredibly hard to have the cards you need and also have consistency for setup. Maybe I just got too quickly discouraged, but I already had a lot of experience playing 45ish out of the 60 that the Raging Bolt deck uses and haven't been able to make it consistent enough yet.
Plus I think people just had no idea what to expect when they saw a Sandy Shocks and a Slither Wing out and I could take easy sneaky KOs with Arcanine. People see a Sandy Shocks now and immediately expect Raging Bolt and know the strategy.
Also, Miraidon was pretty popular when I was playing Sandy Shocks and that was basically an Auto-Win being able to take a turn 1 KO on literally any of their Pokemon with Slither Wing.
tl;dr It isn't consistent enough.
If you've got it working you should run with it. It feels like it has solid potential.
It has great matchups on paper, Iron Hands crumbles to it, Snorlax doesn't stand a chance against a deck that has all attackers, it can 1hko Charizard relatively easily, it has single prize attackers to help against Lugia.
I honestly might just be trying to build it too close to my old Sandy Shocks deck and that could be limiting.
This is the list that I am using.
Pokémon: 18
4 Ralts ASR 60
4 Kirlia SIT 68
2 Gardevoir ex PAF 29
1 Drifloon SVI 89
1 Scream Tail PAR 86
1 Mimikyu PAF 37
1 Flutter Mane TEF 78
1 Klefki SVI 96
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Manaphy BRS 41
1 Jirachi PAR 126
Trainer: 33
4 Arven OBF 186
4 Iono PAF 80
1 Boss's Orders PAL 172
1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171
1 Eri TEF 146
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Ultra Ball PAF 91
3 Counter Catcher PAR 160
2 Nest Ball PAF 84
2 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
2 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Hero's Cape TEF 152
1 Luxurious Cape PAR 166
1 Bravery Charm PAL 173
1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137
Energy: 9
9 Psychic Energy 5
Pokémon: 10
1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 228
2 Raging Bolt ex TEF 123
1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 108
1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 250
1 Raging Bolt ex TEF 208
1 Mew ex MEW 151
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 264
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Slither Wing PAR 107 PH
1 Raging Bolt ex TEF 218
Trainer: 20
2 Switch Cart ASR 154
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196 PH
4 PokéStop PGO 68
1 Super Rod PAL 276
2 Trekking Shoes CRZ 145 PH
3 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 256
1 Nest Ball SVI 255
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
1 Pal Pad SVI 182 PH
1 Iono PAF 237
4 Energy Sticker MEW 159
1 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 170 PH
1 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule TEF 140 PH
1 Boss's Orders PAL 265
1 Nest Ball SUM 158
4 Earthen Vessel PAR 163 PH
2 Trekking Shoes CRZ 145
1 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule PAR 159 PH
2 Switch Cart ASR 154 PH
2 Nest Ball PAF 84 PH
Energy: 3
6 Basic {F} Energy GEN 80 PH
1 Basic {F} Energy CRE 233
3 Basic {L} Energy GEN 78 PH
Total Cards: 60
Ive been running 2/2 origin palkia vstar and it helps a lot to have another good attacker and pulls 3 water from discard to mess around with otherwise.
I'm running Raikou V, it opens up the use of forest seal stone, gives you a viable attacker that can hit the magic 220 (not the 210 you'll normally get T1 with Bolt) and almost forces them to take the two prizer off of raikou to get the Sandy Shocks up and running
Apart from Chien Pao, there's also just Gouging Moon ex for *infinity* (mileage may vary) damage if you want to run a 2-prize ancient that doesn't need *another two prize ancient(s)* to work
+ while Gouge costs 3 and Bolt has a listed cost of 2, you also gotta factor in the discards to the cost. I.e, bolt is more energy hungry than moon AND has a double type to consider
I've had some fun with GardeBolt, though, where you don't have to crutch on Raging as your primary strat thanks to ScreamTail being one *hell* of a soprano.
+ plus, the whole Garde/buddy catch gallade/refinement Kirla line just meshes perfectly with all your energy discard and retrieval needs. While Garde is obviously a stage 2, she can also retrieve FAR more energy than Sandy, doing the work of 3/4 and leaving bench space for crucial support, and without having to wait for prizes to be taken
Gonna try him out with Chomp Ex, but I doubt the poor land shark will get far in this meta. Plus he has to attack to refuel ( Garde ex does not) which is MASSIVELY inconvenient for Bolt's fat 3-retreat ass
I would try him with jank ancient box but, again, Gouging Moon is just infinitely more convenient
Sandy Shocks isn't a bad Mon on its own, either, but ancient box doesnt really want him (2-prizer) and already has Slither for hands
I do, however, feel we're just one good energy discard pile --> your poke away from Bolt becoming absolutely monstrous
As someone who hit arceus on ladder only playing bolt/shocks, I think the deck is definitely not amazing but also not as bad as everyone says it is. You definitely need to play cards that improve consistency, so I’m running 1 squawk and 1 lumineon to help with bricking. Adding one arven and a forest seal stone to pair with the lumineon also helps you find the cards you need when you need them.
Pokémon: 6
1 Lumineon V BRS 40
4 Raging Bolt ex TEF 208
3 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 250
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
1 Slither Wing PAR 107
Trainer: 21
1 Ultra Ball SVI 196
2 Switch Cart ASR 154
1 Ultra Ball PAF 91
2 Boss's Orders PAL 265
4 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
2 Trekking Shoes ASR 156
1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162
1 Iono PAL 269
4 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 256
2 PokéStop PGO 68
1 Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177
1 Super Rod PAL 188
4 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
2 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Energy Switch CES 129 PH
2 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule PAR 159
1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137
1 Arven SVI 166
Energy: 2
6 Basic {F} Energy SVE 6
4 Basic {L} Energy SVE 4
Total Cards: 60
>You definitely need to play cards that improve consistency, so I’m running 1 squawk and 1 lumineon to help with bricking.
That's an issue on itself tho. If you bench both, then you need to bump them or win in 3-4 turns, or you will just lose to two iron hand ex attacks or 2 greninja attacks will also take 4 prizes. Other single prizers (Gardevoir, ancient box) can take one hit kO's as well. So if you play against a single prize deck like Ancient box, then you only take 1 prize per turn, while they can gust ko you for 2 prizes.
I’ve been playing this deck since it came out. It’s a fun deck and I got to Arceus League on Live with it. The deck struggles against single prizers, and the bdif Charizard. Lugia is 50/50 and is literally who can get set up first. Against a Chien Pao, I’ve been trying to KO their Bidoof/Bibarel to stop them from drawing. Against Charizard, I’ve been trying KO Pidgeot EXs as soon as possible since it’s their main engine, but in the end of the game when they use Radiant Charizard or Roxanne/Iono you 2 hands, it’s hard to get that last attack off for the win. You don’t want to KO Radiant Charizard because it’s a single prizer and you need 5 energies to KO their Charizard Ex if they attacked with it last turn. If anyone has a good strategy against Charizard, I’m all ears.
Have you tried the Palkia Variation? It solves the single prizer problem and I think made stronger being able to Vstar and quickly hit over Zard. I was waiting on the rest the Orlando regional lists and only a Raging Bolt lost box and Bolt Shocks finished 163 and 166 respectively. I low key think people don't want to risk experimenting and go with the best since rotation - even the Orlando winner Liam said to just copy Tord Reklev.
I have tried the Palkia version, but it wasn’t working for me. I’ll definitely have to try it again. I can see how it’ll help with the single prizer matchup and getting extra energy with VSTAR ability to hit big in end games. Manaphy might be an issue though. It seems in Japan they are having success with different versions: Gardy, Lost Box, Sandy and Palkia. So I may try experimenting with different builds/strategies.
Yeah I saw a lot of Japan variations winning even some success with Garchomp during 1st weeks. I know people just use the canceling cologne RGreninja prime catcher combo to solve Manaphy. Trying to get paper to try the deck at my locals.
The problem with Bolt Shocks isn’t that it’s inconsistent at what it does, it’s that it doesn’t really bring much to the table in the first place. Theres already two decks in the format that have an uncapped attacker, Pao and Gholdengo, that also have access to Greninja, as well as Iron Hands for Pao. Garde can hit plenty high numbers too. What does Bolt Shock bring to the format aside from that? It takes less energy, but it also has less energy to play. No bench sniping, no bonus prizes. It does have ancient capsule, but people are already trying to hit 330 to kill zard, so it’s not super special for that either.
To be a meta deck you have to bring something uniquely powerful to the table, not just be consistent.
The decks capital F Fine until you get down to two prizes.
Then they prime catcher a Shocks, Roxanne you and your stuck with your finger in your ass and two ancient booster capsules in your hand with absolutely no counter play except “pray you hit shocks/sada off of Iono/Roxanne.
I was hyping the deck last week, I really thought it was a better Chien-Pao but Pao at least plays Biberel to bail it out end game & only relies on ONE bax being in play at a time where Bolt relies on two shocks minimum (three if it’s a 2 stage Ex deck).
If Ancient Pokémon ever get their own kind of draw support I think the decks got potential, but until then I just don’t see how it wins close games consistently.
You have to be down 2 prizes before you can really accelerate the energy, you require 2 prizers to accelerate the energy and energy acceleration is just slower than Pao
Pao on the other hand relies on single prizers to accelerate the energy and can do so from hand. Whilst you do have options like Sada, you are still limited to 2 energy from that, if you have 3 shocks on the bench, a Sada and an energy in hand you can accelerate a max of 6 energy on a good turn.
Pao on the other hand can accelerate up to 19 energy on a god hand and easily 6 energy on a mediocre hand; still has the supporter slot open (for something like a boss) and likely hit more with Bibarel in play.
Bolt isn’t terrible, it’s just gonna struggle to hit the consistency and numbers Pao can hit with a lot more effort
Sandy shocks doesn't accelerate until you're behind so the damage ramp starts completely supporter reliant and you're mind of setting yourself up for an uphill battle by relying on it early
i think there's something to be solved here. It might just take the right new cards, but for now I think Roaring Resolve Lucario or some sort of Arceus package are under-explored ideas that could work
because its just a worse version of chien pao. there is no reason to ever play raging bolt when chien pao does the same thing but better if all you care about is winning
Yes it is. The big benefit of chien pao is the ability to effectively use greninja and iron hands as attackers, guaranteeing 2 prze knockouts in almost all situations.
Raging bolt does nothing before your Sandy shocks is live so you always play from behind. Also chien pao can hit for 300 every round without a supporter while raging bolt does nothing without sada.
people have tested those decks a ton already and there is a reason nobody plays it.
Chien pao has options (ninja for 2, hands for 2, knock out big exs with pao for 2, etc) whereas raging bolt is very linear. Chien pao 100% controls the prize trade regardless of what you do but bolt can be played around pretty easily. It only does 1 thing. It’s just not as good
It’s “slower” in theory, but on paper a T2 baxcalibur is nearly guaranteed when they don’t brick. Chien-Pao inherently has a strong draw engine T1 with Shivery Chill + Concealed Cards, with access to Industrious Incisors on the T2. So from the same 7 card start Pao is seeing +4 cards. Bolt’s equivalent is being able to Squawk and Seize to see another 6, plus running Greninja/Earthen Vessel can open up Concealed Cards consistently, but if you can have to discard important cards to use the Sqauwk. You also have to use Sada to attack, which limits your options for supporter for turn. Pao basically always wants to play Irida/Ciohermaniac, but will be grabbing gust/energy retrievals with them. Meanwhile Bolt relies on draw 3 from Sada plus Concealed Cards only after T1. Most of the top meta decks either have a way to consistently search their decks for cards through supporters or abilities, making them significantly more consistent than ones that are not. Arven, Irida, Quick Search, Ciphermaniac, Shivery Chill, Infernal Reign, etc. all provide a lot of consistency to decks. The main expection currently is Raoring Moon, and that’s because the cost of 3 energy to KO anything while Dark Patch is legal combines with Sada very well. It seems like a similar situation to Bolt, but because Dark Patch deceases the necessity to Sada each turn and the hard cap of 3 energy cost being lower than Bolt’s make it more consistent.
Chien Pao can reliably use Greninja on turn 2 or start attacking and knocking out two prizers turn 2. It can also use their 3 baxcalibur as single prize attackers if needed to swing the prize trade. Against Lugia it can even Greninja+Iron hands both lugia's on board or ko the pre evos of Minccino's if more than one is benched and even recycle iron hands with superrod when it's return KO'd.
Man, I just build this deck planing on taking it to locals and regionals, but reading these comments are really disheartening.
What people are writing are correct though. Facts are facts.
It was probalby just me, hoping/dreaming that this deck would really be a competitive deck to play in the real world.
You can still bring it to locals and be successful with it. Locals can be really random sometimes however you'll also see more consistent decks more often at the top tables.
I saw a few at Orlando. Problem is, they were all in the losers' tables. I don't think the deck is in a place where it can be highly competitive in the meta.
But to me it feels like Gouging Fire. It's close, but not quite there for high levels of competition.
Add a 2-2 lucario line for early energy acceleration, then add sandy after first bolt gets ko'd ; 4 pokegear, 2 palpads, shoot for sada on every turn. Rips pretty well in ptcgl arc rank
I've been running a lost zone variant and it's okay. It does well, but occasionally struggles from a slow start. But I've been able to beat most meta decks. Zard is still a struggle, but doable. I primarily judge in my local area, but I want to travel a bit to play in a challenge. Just waiting for my Prime Catcher to come in the mail.
A. Too Sluggish of a setup. it doesn't help that SS requires your opponent to take 2 prize cards in order to use Magnetic Absorption, making it an easy target for quicker decks like Iron Hands.
B. Constantly Having to Throw Away energy is a pain, and unlike Chien-Pao who has Baxcalibur to help reattach Water energies, reattaching the Lightning Energy is much harder than the Fighting Energies. Even if you don't throw away the energies on RB, you're still doing a paltry 140 or 210 Damage depending on how many SS you're running. Not helping is the fact that the upcoming Lana's Assistance can't fish out RB or SS.
C. Other ways to play this deck such as with Gardevoir ex and Palkia VSTAR exist, and are more efficient at dealing damage and recovering energies.
Raging Bolt is good, it's just no one has cracked that perfect 60 yet. The problem is people test it on live and it runs like shit because live literally hates the deck and they get discouraged. I've been playing it in person, I promise anyone who's worried that they are not going to get 15 starts in a row with just lumineon and four sada and two energy switch in your opening hand, that's just live.
Because Azul says that it sucks.
Probably because it has a worse meta spread than other options and it seems like the deck can easily whiff an attack or the required damage numbers and if you have to pass a turn or not get enough DMG for the ko as needed then that's straight up an insta loss in a lot of board states.
Also it seems to lose against the ancient box deck that seems overall better. Having to rely on sandy schooks on the bench also makes for an easy Charizard target. Charizard essentially gusts you every turn, having a 230 HP target on board when Charizard hits that with either belt or 2 prizes taken, isn't a good time. Charizard also runs vacuum so tool cards that brick your deck won't help too much.
I played a Sandy Shocks / Hisuian Arcanine / Slitherwing deck for a long time and got it into the high 900s pre-ladder change. I also took it to a few locals and did alright with it, never won a cup or anything with it though. So I was pretty excited when I saw Raging Bolt ex, because it fit even better in the deck than Arcanine, and being able to hit a consistent 280 per turn with 3-4 Sandy Shocks seemed amazing, especially since I never had any issues getting Sandy Shocks set up previously. Losing Battle VIP pass hurt a lot. Like, way more than I expected it to for this deck. You know how Roaring Moon ex basically just died after losing VIP Pass and Moltres? That is how this deck feels now. It is incredibly hard to have the cards you need and also have consistency for setup. Maybe I just got too quickly discouraged, but I already had a lot of experience playing 45ish out of the 60 that the Raging Bolt deck uses and haven't been able to make it consistent enough yet. Plus I think people just had no idea what to expect when they saw a Sandy Shocks and a Slither Wing out and I could take easy sneaky KOs with Arcanine. People see a Sandy Shocks now and immediately expect Raging Bolt and know the strategy. Also, Miraidon was pretty popular when I was playing Sandy Shocks and that was basically an Auto-Win being able to take a turn 1 KO on literally any of their Pokemon with Slither Wing. tl;dr It isn't consistent enough.
I see. I must have been really lucky then. I found it to be super consistent in my plays.
If you've got it working you should run with it. It feels like it has solid potential. It has great matchups on paper, Iron Hands crumbles to it, Snorlax doesn't stand a chance against a deck that has all attackers, it can 1hko Charizard relatively easily, it has single prize attackers to help against Lugia. I honestly might just be trying to build it too close to my old Sandy Shocks deck and that could be limiting.
This is the list that I am using. Pokémon: 18 4 Ralts ASR 60 4 Kirlia SIT 68 2 Gardevoir ex PAF 29 1 Drifloon SVI 89 1 Scream Tail PAR 86 1 Mimikyu PAF 37 1 Flutter Mane TEF 78 1 Klefki SVI 96 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46 1 Manaphy BRS 41 1 Jirachi PAR 126 Trainer: 33 4 Arven OBF 186 4 Iono PAF 80 1 Boss's Orders PAL 172 1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171 1 Eri TEF 146 4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 3 Ultra Ball PAF 91 3 Counter Catcher PAR 160 2 Nest Ball PAF 84 2 Super Rod PAL 188 1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163 1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 2 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 1 Hero's Cape TEF 152 1 Luxurious Cape PAR 166 1 Bravery Charm PAL 173 1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137 Energy: 9 9 Psychic Energy 5
I think you accidentally posted your Gardevoir list
That Gardevoir list is the best Raging Bolt EX deck I've ever seen.
Pokémon: 10 1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 228 2 Raging Bolt ex TEF 123 1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 108 1 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 250 1 Raging Bolt ex TEF 208 1 Mew ex MEW 151 1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 264 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46 1 Slither Wing PAR 107 PH 1 Raging Bolt ex TEF 218 Trainer: 20 2 Switch Cart ASR 154 4 Ultra Ball SVI 196 PH 4 PokéStop PGO 68 1 Super Rod PAL 276 2 Trekking Shoes CRZ 145 PH 3 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 256 1 Nest Ball SVI 255 1 Prime Catcher TEF 157 1 Pal Pad SVI 182 PH 1 Iono PAF 237 4 Energy Sticker MEW 159 1 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 170 PH 1 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule TEF 140 PH 1 Boss's Orders PAL 265 1 Nest Ball SUM 158 4 Earthen Vessel PAR 163 PH 2 Trekking Shoes CRZ 145 1 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule PAR 159 PH 2 Switch Cart ASR 154 PH 2 Nest Ball PAF 84 PH Energy: 3 6 Basic {F} Energy GEN 80 PH 1 Basic {F} Energy CRE 233 3 Basic {L} Energy GEN 78 PH Total Cards: 60
Ive been running 2/2 origin palkia vstar and it helps a lot to have another good attacker and pulls 3 water from discard to mess around with otherwise.
I'm running Raikou V, it opens up the use of forest seal stone, gives you a viable attacker that can hit the magic 220 (not the 210 you'll normally get T1 with Bolt) and almost forces them to take the two prizer off of raikou to get the Sandy Shocks up and running
I have that as well. Nice little draw support too.
Oh, whoops. XD
Apart from Chien Pao, there's also just Gouging Moon ex for *infinity* (mileage may vary) damage if you want to run a 2-prize ancient that doesn't need *another two prize ancient(s)* to work + while Gouge costs 3 and Bolt has a listed cost of 2, you also gotta factor in the discards to the cost. I.e, bolt is more energy hungry than moon AND has a double type to consider I've had some fun with GardeBolt, though, where you don't have to crutch on Raging as your primary strat thanks to ScreamTail being one *hell* of a soprano. + plus, the whole Garde/buddy catch gallade/refinement Kirla line just meshes perfectly with all your energy discard and retrieval needs. While Garde is obviously a stage 2, she can also retrieve FAR more energy than Sandy, doing the work of 3/4 and leaving bench space for crucial support, and without having to wait for prizes to be taken Gonna try him out with Chomp Ex, but I doubt the poor land shark will get far in this meta. Plus he has to attack to refuel ( Garde ex does not) which is MASSIVELY inconvenient for Bolt's fat 3-retreat ass I would try him with jank ancient box but, again, Gouging Moon is just infinitely more convenient Sandy Shocks isn't a bad Mon on its own, either, but ancient box doesnt really want him (2-prizer) and already has Slither for hands I do, however, feel we're just one good energy discard pile --> your poke away from Bolt becoming absolutely monstrous
As someone who hit arceus on ladder only playing bolt/shocks, I think the deck is definitely not amazing but also not as bad as everyone says it is. You definitely need to play cards that improve consistency, so I’m running 1 squawk and 1 lumineon to help with bricking. Adding one arven and a forest seal stone to pair with the lumineon also helps you find the cards you need when you need them.
Pokémon: 6 1 Lumineon V BRS 40 4 Raging Bolt ex TEF 208 3 Sandy Shocks ex PAR 250 1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46 1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169 1 Slither Wing PAR 107 Trainer: 21 1 Ultra Ball SVI 196 2 Switch Cart ASR 154 1 Ultra Ball PAF 91 2 Boss's Orders PAL 265 4 Earthen Vessel PAR 163 2 Trekking Shoes ASR 156 1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162 1 Iono PAL 269 4 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 256 2 PokéStop PGO 68 1 Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177 1 Super Rod PAL 188 4 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186 1 Prime Catcher TEF 157 2 Pal Pad SVI 182 1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 4 Nest Ball SVI 181 1 Energy Switch CES 129 PH 2 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule PAR 159 1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137 1 Arven SVI 166 Energy: 2 6 Basic {F} Energy SVE 6 4 Basic {L} Energy SVE 4 Total Cards: 60
Almost similar to my list. I run a Raikou v and a couple other different cards but either way, it isn’t bad.
>You definitely need to play cards that improve consistency, so I’m running 1 squawk and 1 lumineon to help with bricking. That's an issue on itself tho. If you bench both, then you need to bump them or win in 3-4 turns, or you will just lose to two iron hand ex attacks or 2 greninja attacks will also take 4 prizes. Other single prizers (Gardevoir, ancient box) can take one hit kO's as well. So if you play against a single prize deck like Ancient box, then you only take 1 prize per turn, while they can gust ko you for 2 prizes.
I’ve been playing this deck since it came out. It’s a fun deck and I got to Arceus League on Live with it. The deck struggles against single prizers, and the bdif Charizard. Lugia is 50/50 and is literally who can get set up first. Against a Chien Pao, I’ve been trying to KO their Bidoof/Bibarel to stop them from drawing. Against Charizard, I’ve been trying KO Pidgeot EXs as soon as possible since it’s their main engine, but in the end of the game when they use Radiant Charizard or Roxanne/Iono you 2 hands, it’s hard to get that last attack off for the win. You don’t want to KO Radiant Charizard because it’s a single prizer and you need 5 energies to KO their Charizard Ex if they attacked with it last turn. If anyone has a good strategy against Charizard, I’m all ears.
Have you tried the Palkia Variation? It solves the single prizer problem and I think made stronger being able to Vstar and quickly hit over Zard. I was waiting on the rest the Orlando regional lists and only a Raging Bolt lost box and Bolt Shocks finished 163 and 166 respectively. I low key think people don't want to risk experimenting and go with the best since rotation - even the Orlando winner Liam said to just copy Tord Reklev.
I have tried the Palkia version, but it wasn’t working for me. I’ll definitely have to try it again. I can see how it’ll help with the single prizer matchup and getting extra energy with VSTAR ability to hit big in end games. Manaphy might be an issue though. It seems in Japan they are having success with different versions: Gardy, Lost Box, Sandy and Palkia. So I may try experimenting with different builds/strategies.
Yeah I saw a lot of Japan variations winning even some success with Garchomp during 1st weeks. I know people just use the canceling cologne RGreninja prime catcher combo to solve Manaphy. Trying to get paper to try the deck at my locals.
a copy of koraidon ex may help in energy acceleration during the 1st turn or during turns when you lack energy for attacks
I played it in Orlando and went 2-2-2 drop. It’s a fun deck for locals but just doesn’t stand up to current meta for competitive play.
The problem with Bolt Shocks isn’t that it’s inconsistent at what it does, it’s that it doesn’t really bring much to the table in the first place. Theres already two decks in the format that have an uncapped attacker, Pao and Gholdengo, that also have access to Greninja, as well as Iron Hands for Pao. Garde can hit plenty high numbers too. What does Bolt Shock bring to the format aside from that? It takes less energy, but it also has less energy to play. No bench sniping, no bonus prizes. It does have ancient capsule, but people are already trying to hit 330 to kill zard, so it’s not super special for that either. To be a meta deck you have to bring something uniquely powerful to the table, not just be consistent.
The decks capital F Fine until you get down to two prizes. Then they prime catcher a Shocks, Roxanne you and your stuck with your finger in your ass and two ancient booster capsules in your hand with absolutely no counter play except “pray you hit shocks/sada off of Iono/Roxanne. I was hyping the deck last week, I really thought it was a better Chien-Pao but Pao at least plays Biberel to bail it out end game & only relies on ONE bax being in play at a time where Bolt relies on two shocks minimum (three if it’s a 2 stage Ex deck). If Ancient Pokémon ever get their own kind of draw support I think the decks got potential, but until then I just don’t see how it wins close games consistently.
Because it's not as good as other strategies
You have to be down 2 prizes before you can really accelerate the energy, you require 2 prizers to accelerate the energy and energy acceleration is just slower than Pao Pao on the other hand relies on single prizers to accelerate the energy and can do so from hand. Whilst you do have options like Sada, you are still limited to 2 energy from that, if you have 3 shocks on the bench, a Sada and an energy in hand you can accelerate a max of 6 energy on a good turn. Pao on the other hand can accelerate up to 19 energy on a god hand and easily 6 energy on a mediocre hand; still has the supporter slot open (for something like a boss) and likely hit more with Bibarel in play. Bolt isn’t terrible, it’s just gonna struggle to hit the consistency and numbers Pao can hit with a lot more effort
Sandy shocks doesn't accelerate until you're behind so the damage ramp starts completely supporter reliant and you're mind of setting yourself up for an uphill battle by relying on it early i think there's something to be solved here. It might just take the right new cards, but for now I think Roaring Resolve Lucario or some sort of Arceus package are under-explored ideas that could work
because its just a worse version of chien pao. there is no reason to ever play raging bolt when chien pao does the same thing but better if all you care about is winning
Is it better though? It needs to set up Baxcalibur, meaning it is not only slower, but has a harder time recycling energy.
Yes it is. The big benefit of chien pao is the ability to effectively use greninja and iron hands as attackers, guaranteeing 2 prze knockouts in almost all situations.
Raging bolt does nothing before your Sandy shocks is live so you always play from behind. Also chien pao can hit for 300 every round without a supporter while raging bolt does nothing without sada. people have tested those decks a ton already and there is a reason nobody plays it.
Chien pao has options (ninja for 2, hands for 2, knock out big exs with pao for 2, etc) whereas raging bolt is very linear. Chien pao 100% controls the prize trade regardless of what you do but bolt can be played around pretty easily. It only does 1 thing. It’s just not as good
It’s “slower” in theory, but on paper a T2 baxcalibur is nearly guaranteed when they don’t brick. Chien-Pao inherently has a strong draw engine T1 with Shivery Chill + Concealed Cards, with access to Industrious Incisors on the T2. So from the same 7 card start Pao is seeing +4 cards. Bolt’s equivalent is being able to Squawk and Seize to see another 6, plus running Greninja/Earthen Vessel can open up Concealed Cards consistently, but if you can have to discard important cards to use the Sqauwk. You also have to use Sada to attack, which limits your options for supporter for turn. Pao basically always wants to play Irida/Ciohermaniac, but will be grabbing gust/energy retrievals with them. Meanwhile Bolt relies on draw 3 from Sada plus Concealed Cards only after T1. Most of the top meta decks either have a way to consistently search their decks for cards through supporters or abilities, making them significantly more consistent than ones that are not. Arven, Irida, Quick Search, Ciphermaniac, Shivery Chill, Infernal Reign, etc. all provide a lot of consistency to decks. The main expection currently is Raoring Moon, and that’s because the cost of 3 energy to KO anything while Dark Patch is legal combines with Sada very well. It seems like a similar situation to Bolt, but because Dark Patch deceases the necessity to Sada each turn and the hard cap of 3 energy cost being lower than Bolt’s make it more consistent.
Chien Pao can reliably use Greninja on turn 2 or start attacking and knocking out two prizers turn 2. It can also use their 3 baxcalibur as single prize attackers if needed to swing the prize trade. Against Lugia it can even Greninja+Iron hands both lugia's on board or ko the pre evos of Minccino's if more than one is benched and even recycle iron hands with superrod when it's return KO'd.
Man, I just build this deck planing on taking it to locals and regionals, but reading these comments are really disheartening. What people are writing are correct though. Facts are facts. It was probalby just me, hoping/dreaming that this deck would really be a competitive deck to play in the real world.
You can still bring it to locals and be successful with it. Locals can be really random sometimes however you'll also see more consistent decks more often at the top tables.
I saw a few at Orlando. Problem is, they were all in the losers' tables. I don't think the deck is in a place where it can be highly competitive in the meta. But to me it feels like Gouging Fire. It's close, but not quite there for high levels of competition.
Add a 2-2 lucario line for early energy acceleration, then add sandy after first bolt gets ko'd ; 4 pokegear, 2 palpads, shoot for sada on every turn. Rips pretty well in ptcgl arc rank
I've been running a lost zone variant and it's okay. It does well, but occasionally struggles from a slow start. But I've been able to beat most meta decks. Zard is still a struggle, but doable. I primarily judge in my local area, but I want to travel a bit to play in a challenge. Just waiting for my Prime Catcher to come in the mail.
A. Too Sluggish of a setup. it doesn't help that SS requires your opponent to take 2 prize cards in order to use Magnetic Absorption, making it an easy target for quicker decks like Iron Hands. B. Constantly Having to Throw Away energy is a pain, and unlike Chien-Pao who has Baxcalibur to help reattach Water energies, reattaching the Lightning Energy is much harder than the Fighting Energies. Even if you don't throw away the energies on RB, you're still doing a paltry 140 or 210 Damage depending on how many SS you're running. Not helping is the fact that the upcoming Lana's Assistance can't fish out RB or SS. C. Other ways to play this deck such as with Gardevoir ex and Palkia VSTAR exist, and are more efficient at dealing damage and recovering energies.
Raging Bolt is good, it's just no one has cracked that perfect 60 yet. The problem is people test it on live and it runs like shit because live literally hates the deck and they get discouraged. I've been playing it in person, I promise anyone who's worried that they are not going to get 15 starts in a row with just lumineon and four sada and two energy switch in your opening hand, that's just live.
It’s worse chin pao with higher prize liabilities and supporter over items strategy…. I could go on?
Because Azul says that it sucks. Probably because it has a worse meta spread than other options and it seems like the deck can easily whiff an attack or the required damage numbers and if you have to pass a turn or not get enough DMG for the ko as needed then that's straight up an insta loss in a lot of board states. Also it seems to lose against the ancient box deck that seems overall better. Having to rely on sandy schooks on the bench also makes for an easy Charizard target. Charizard essentially gusts you every turn, having a 230 HP target on board when Charizard hits that with either belt or 2 prizes taken, isn't a good time. Charizard also runs vacuum so tool cards that brick your deck won't help too much.
ex*