“Cracephalon” – Blacephalon/Reshizard in Standard!

Good afternoon Trainers! As with all of the best eras in Pokémon, the best deck in the format must fall to the next best deck – this is currently happening in the standard format. With LucMetal slowly getting edged out by decks that play answers, we see Eternatus (with multiple copies of Phoebe) and Blacephalon decks seeing more and more success. This is because decks will always adapt once they see what is winning, and it’s important as players that we note what the best decks are.

I booted up my Pokémon Trading Card Game Online app, loaded up some PTCGO codes, and then traded those Pokémon TCG online codes to trade for this deck. I was very excited, and it honestly didn’t take that many PTCGO codes to make the deck. If you’re looking to buy some codes, we sell them here on PTCGO Store, and I highly urge you to check out our competitive pricing and swift delivery! Let’s talk about “Cracephalon” today.

The main strategy with this Pokemon Online deck is identifying which attacker is most useful for each situation. Usually, your go-to attacker will be either Reshizard or Cramorant V because they are relatively low maintenance. Reshizard can get off quick attacks (Double Blaze GX on the first turn can be devastating for some decks) and hold onto those energies to use more powerful attacks like Flare Strike. Cramorant V can make quick use of benched liabilities like Dedenne-GX and requires you to discard all energy attached to it. Heatran-GX has a great ability that can either be used to garter energy onto it for a big Hot Burn GX in the late game or a speed OHKO in the early turns. Lastly, Blacephalon is our best late-game attacker because it makes use of all of the energy that has hit the discard pile. Using Jirachi, Dedenne-GX, Crobat V, and Giant Hearth, we can draw and thin enough cards to ensure playing Welder almost every turn.

From there, we can take big KOs and ensure consistent flows of energy onto the field by using Mewtwo’s Mind Report ability and Scoop Up Net. Remember: if you aren’t taking an OHKO with this deck, it probably isn’t worth attacking that turn. We’ll get into what I mean by that a little later, but with a combination of Giant Hearth, Fire Crystal, and a suite of Pokémon that draw cards, we should have no issues pulling off some crazy KOs that will make our opponents overwhelmed. Using this strategy, we can really win against any deck. Let’s hop into the list and take a peek at what some of the key cards in this Pokémondeck can do.

4 Jirachi TEU 99

2 Blacephalon UNB 32

2 Dedenne-GX UNB 57

1 Cramorant V SHF 54

1 Crobat V SHF 44

1 Galarian Zigzagoon SSH 117

1 Heatran-GX UNM 25

1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX UNB 20

1 Marshadow UNB 81

1 Mew UNB 76　

1 Mewtwo UNB 75

1 Oricorio-GX CEC 95

4 Welder UNB 189

1 Boss's Orders SHF 58

4 Switch SSH 183

4 Fire Crystal UNB 173

4 Scoop Up Net RCL 165　

4 Quick Ball SSH 179　

2 Cherish Ball UNM 191

2 Pokémon Communication TEU 152

4 Giant Hearth UNM 197

14 Fire Energy

2 Blacephalon - While it’s evident that we won’t need to take too many KOs in a game, we must have an attacker readily available at all times. Since we are playing a Welder deck, we want to optimize our odds of having a Pokémon to attach those energies to, hence why we play two copies of this card and two other attackers. Blacephalon also has 120 HP, so once we attack with one, we fully expect it to get KOed back (unless our opponent’s main attacker just got KOed, and they can’t respond). Either way, this Pokémon is vital to have in the late game, specifically because we need to establish some resources in our hands to be effective for Fireball Circus. Blacephalon is typically reserved for taking a big OHKO onto a Tag Team GX or a VMAX Pokémon, so expect to have to use 5-7 energy when using this attack (we can typically manipulate our resources using Giant Hearth, Fire Crystal, Oricorio-GX’s ability, and Jirachi’s Stellar Wish ability). Fire typing is powerful against LucMetal, Zacian V, and Grass-type Pokémon such as Rowlett & Exeggutor Tag Team GX, which means your hitting x2 damage against some massive titans in the format.

1 Reshiram & Charizard Tag Team GX (“Reshizard”) – This is usually our go-to attacker on the first few turns of the game because it can usually tank a few hits, meaning it can make good use of our first few energy attached via Welder. This usually means we’ll draw a few Prize Cards, get a few speedy KOs, and get enough resources into our hands to begin using Blacephalon. 270 HP is really nice in this metagame, and Fire-typing is obviously really good. Outrage can be a really low maintenance way to KO Zacian V (and other Pokémon); Double Blaze GX is excellent at OHKOs on ADP, but it can also get through a Decidueye or perhaps even a LucMetal with a Coating Energy onto it.

1 Heatran-GX – A 190 HP GX Pokémon that is searchable via Cherish Ball is excellent in this deck. Its Burning Road ability is useful for soaking up random energy on your board and focusing it into one massive attack. You can either use Heatran in the late game to sweep or use Heatran in the early game to take cheap KOs. 130 damage with a Fire-type Pokémon is enough to OHKO Zacian V,Zamazenta V, and many single Prize Card Pokémon.

1 Cramorant V – Our other attacker in this deck can snipe a Dedenne-GX off of the field or finish off a Pokémon that hasn’t been OHKO’ed. Beak Catch is a great way of finding us Welder at the beginning of the game or to secure your board position in the late game. I find myself oftentimes using Cramorant to soften up Pokémon V before they VMAX and then using Reshizard’s Double Blaze to finish them off when they do VMAX.

4 Jirachi – Our optimal starter, Stellar Wish, is an ability that helps us to find Welder and other useful stuff in the early game. If we sequence well enough in the late game, we can almost guarantee drawing certain cards because our deck is often so low. We can reuse Jirachi via a combination of Switch and Scoop Up Net to search for the most valuable card in our deck, Welder.

1 Oricorio-GX – This GX Pokémon is optimal at setting up insurance against our opponent going “Reset Stamp + KO”. Oftentimes, our opponent’s only chance of winning against our deck is to KO our active attacker and then disrupt our hand, but having Oricorio on the bench aids us in bouncing back into the game and taking a return KO.

1 Mewtwo – This card can net us back a Welder for powering up future attackers or retrieve back a game-winning Boss’ Orders. Pro Tip: if you predict your opponent will use Marnie's next turn, use Mewtwo’s Mind Report ability to stack a Welder on top of your deck. Scoop Up Net can also be combined with this Mewtwo to give us an additional four copies of Welder or four copies of Boss’ Orders! If you need to use the Supporter that Mind Report just put on top of your deck, use Jirachi’s Stellar Wish to put it into your hand (all within the same turn).

1 Marshadow – This is pretty much exclusively used for removing Chaotic Swell from play – can also be useful for removing Power Plant. If Chaotic Swell is in play, it can really put a stick in the wheels, considering how important it is for us to have Giant Hearth in play at all times. Also useful for removing Power Plant in a pinch.

1 Galarian Zigzagoon – Useful for correcting any math with its Zigzag Headbutt ability. Since you can abuse it with Scoop Up Net, you can add 10, 20, 30, or more damage out of nowhere! This is especially important in the Rapid Strike Urshifu matchup, where you must use Double Blaze GX for 300 damage and follow it up with three Zigzagoon pings. Flare Strike + a Zigzagoon ping is enough to OHKO a Pikarom. Zigzagoon pings on key Pokémon can also prevent the opponent from using Giovanni’s Exile in the Mad Party matchup (Giovanni’s Exile can’t remove damaged Pokémon).

4 Welder – This card allows us to power up our attackers quickly and is our only draw Supporter in the entire deck. We ideally look to play this card every turn possible because our opponents will usually be able to OHKO some of our attackers very quickly. This is the life source of our entire deck, and we wouldn’t be able to run the same without it! Once you get a single Welder in the discard pile, keep in mind you can recycle it with Mewtwo’s Mind Report ability.

1 Boss’ Order – This is pretty standard in Cracephalon decks right now, but it can help us make massive gains in-game by KOing a Pokémon on the opponent’s bench that is a threat to us. The reason why we only play a single copy of these because we can’t play Welder and Boss’ Orders in the same turn. We can also use Cramorant to snipe the bench, so Boss isn’t always needed. That being said, having a Supporter gust effect in our deck is amazing and can catch the opponent off guard; we HAVE to include this card in our deck to at least have the option, even if we don’t use it every game.

4 Giant Hearth – Since we lost Fiery Flint in the rotation, the best card possible to find Fire Energy in our deck is Giant Hearth. This card has amazing synergy with Welder and allows us to not only thin our deck of Fire Energy but also thin cards out of our hands for when we get Reset Stamp’d or Marnie's. This is also a Stadium that usually only benefits one side of the field.

4 Scoop Up Net/4 Switch – These cards are in the deck so that we can abuse Jirachi’s Stellar Wish ability to find Welder very fast. These 8 cards will also give us the mobility we need to make sure our Pokémon can always attack early on. We can also use Scoop Up Net to reuse Mewtwo’s ability and Galarian Zigzagoon’s ability. A Switch can help us to reset the clause on Flare Strike as well.

4 Fire Crystal – These cards are potent ways for us to retrieve energy from the discard. Consider these cards as an additional 14 energy cards in our deck! Try to save these for the late game to get big OHKOs with Blacephalon.

This deck is one of the “run hot” Pokemon online decks within the format. However, it really stands a chance against almost anything in its path. It has a wide arsenal of attackers at its disposal and utilizes basic energy, so there aren’t many techs you can play to stop Cracephalon either. With Pikarom out of the picture right now, we can see an opening for this deck within the standard format, and if you’re looking to rack up some massive wins, then I highly urge you to try out this deck. I’d suggest nabbing some PTCGO codes and building this deck online because this deck will only get stronger. Until next time, have fun!

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