The Sweet Scent of Victory! Finding the best Way to Build Your Fairy Garden

The Sweet Scent of Victory: - Finding the Best way to Grow Your Fairy Garden for Xerneas/Aromatisse

            Hey Trainers! Today I'll be talking about a deck that has come out of the new XY set!

Table of Contents:

I.               Overview

II.             Components

III.           Builds

IV.           Aromatisse/Xerneas EX/Xerneas XY/96

A)   Overview

B)   Deck List

V.             Aromatisse/Xerneas XY/96/Other

A)   Overview

B)   Deck List

C)   Card Explanation

VI.           Conclusion

Overview:

             With the introduction to Fairy type, two stage one-fairy types have been created with devastating abilities. However, the downside of Fairy types being new is the fact that the attackers for the type are low. This has created a lot of debate on how to build a fairy type deck; today’s article will discuss just that, how best to play a fairy deck, and whether that means using Fairy attackers or not.

Components:

Aromatisse:

 

A Stage One Hydregion DRX!

Aromatisse is a brand new Fairy type stage one from the XY set, and is an incredibly powerful card. Aromatisse has 90hp, has the Ability Fairy Transfer, and an attack called Fairy Wind that deals 60 Damage for (F)(F)(C). The main reason this card is so powerful, is for Fairy Transfer. This Ability works similar to Hydregion DRX in that it transfers fairy energy amongst your Pokémon in any way you like.

Xerneas XY/96:

 

Main Energy Acceleration 

Xerneas XY is a great non EX Fairy type with a hefty 130hp and a great starting attack. Xerneas’s first attack Geomancy costs a light one Fairy Energy, and allows you to search your deck for two basic Fairy Energy and place one on two of your bench Pokémon. This is a great energy acceleration method in a fairy deck and makes the card very playable.  Aside from Geomancy, Xerneas also has a second attack Rainbow Spear that deals a solid 100 damage for (F)(F)(C) at the cost of discarding energy.

Fairy Garden:

 

Ooooh Pretty!

Fairy Garden is an amazing stadium for any deck utilizing Fairy Energy. This allows any Pokémon with a Fairy Energy Attached, to retreat for free! This is a very powerful card as it allows any Pokémon to retreat for free as long as you have an Aromatisse and a single Fairy Energy on the Board. In both of my lists I run a very heavy count of this card to keep up with any stadium war, and ensure I can always use tactics like Rush In and free retreat with Keldeo EX.  

Xerneas EX:

 

X Blast Off at the Speed of Light!

(Note: being that the overall theme of this deck is to use fairy Pokémon, I have included Xerneas EX here. However as you will see later in the article, I feel there is a lot of potential for a Fairy deck without it.)

Xerneas EX is the first ever Fairy Type EX card. Xerneas has 170 hp and two different attacks. Its first attack Break Through, deals 60 base power and deals 30 damage to a bench Pokémon for (F)(C)(C). This can be helpful and set up future KO’s with its second attack X Blast. For (F)(F)(C)(C) it’s a hefty attack cost but can KO most Pokémon after dealing 60 with Breakthrough, and any 170hp EX after the 30 Bench Damage.

Builds:

Xerneas XY/96/Aromatisse/Xerneas EX:           

The basic strategy with this deck variant is to get consecutive 2HKO’s and make the most of Max Potion for prize denial.

Pokemon-15                                    Trainers-32                                          Energy-13

3-Spritzee	4-Max Potion	13-Fairy
2-Aromatisse	3-Ultra Ball
3-Xerneas-XY/96	2-Level Ball
3-Xerneas EX	1-Computer Search
1-Keldeo EX	1-Silver Mirror
2-Swirlix	3-Hard Charm
1-Slurpuff	3-Fairy Garden
	1-Professor’s Letter
	4-Juniper
	4-N
	2-Colress
	3-Skyla
	1-Super Rod

This variant plays out a lot like Darkrai/Hydregion, it can move energy at will and focuses on 2HKO’s.  Aromatisse is used in order to transfer energy and can combine with lots of other cards to be really useful. For example, with the ability to move energy as often as you’d like, you can use Max Potion without having to discard energy. Next Slurpuff, while not being essential, helps remove the use of Hypnotoxic Laser, which is great against any deck that relies on it for OHKO’s. Not only that though, but in the event that Pokémon that rely on status conditions like Accelgor DEX rise in play, this is an effective way to shut down their strategy.  

Before any of the sweet smelling Stage One’s can come into play however, Xerneas XY/96 can be used to accelerate energy early game with Geomancy. Once the deck has a solid energy presence, it can utilize Xerneas EX to set up base 60 damage and 30 to the bench. This is important because, it provides enough damage for Xerneas knock out two EX’s with X Blast, granted one of them has 170hp. One thing to keep in mind however is that Xerneas’s X Blast cannot be used two turns in a row. This is why I play Keldeo EX; Rush in can allow you to remove Xerneas EX from the active spot and retreat for free with Fairy Transfer and Fairy Garden.

Overall this deck is very consistent and has a way to enhance its strategy of prize denial, in the form of Hard Charm and Silver Mirror. These cards can slow Plasma and Dark variants from dealing large amounts of damage or any at all for that matter. Specifically when playing against a Darkrai or Yveltal EX, using Hard Charm along with all Fairy Pokémon’s resistance to dark goes along way. Darkrai EX no longer can 2HKO, and is reduces to having to Night Spear for 50 damage four times to KO Xerneas EX. When facing Yveltal EX, a very talked about card likely to see play, its attack Evil Ball relies on energy presence on both active Pokémon. Seeing as Xerneas has a high attack cost, using Hard Charm combined with the resistance helps lower the damage output in hopes of being able to Max Potion it off.

Aromatisse/Other

Overview:

This deck keeps the Aromatisse and Xerneas XY/96 for acceleration and manipulation, but ditches Xerneas EX. Instead I feel the deck has a lot of opportunities as a toolbox deck to have multiple answers to threats the Meta provides. Currently, the most successful decks revolve around Darkrai EX, Genesect EX, and Dragon EX’s like Black Kyurem and Rayquaza. So the best way to counter these is to use cards that hit for weakness and attack for mainly Colorless Energy.

Pokemon-18                               Trainers-29                                       Energy-13

3-Spritzee	4-N	6-Fairy
3-Aromatisse	4-Professor Sycamore	4-Prisim
3-Xerneas XY/96	2-Skyla	3-Rainbow
2-Yveltal EX	2-Colress
2-Victini EX	4-Ultra Ball
1-Emogla EX	1-Level Ball
1-Terakion NVI	1-Computer Search
1-Genesect EX	1-Proffesors Letter
1-Latias EX	3-Max Potion
1-Keldeo EX	1-Super Rod
	3-Fairy Garden
	3-Muscle Band

 Overall I really like this deck and feel it can perform well if you can start using Geomancy as soon as possible. Seeing as rainbow and Prism can be moved by Fairy Trance, and can provide the different Energy costs, smart use of your side of the field can give you access to quick OHKO’s and provides great basic attackers in the form of Yveltal and Genesect EX. Now I realize some of these cards do seem a bit underwhelming, so ill go into detail on a few of them.

Emogla EX:

 

So Cute!

Not many people were impressed when this guy showed up on the scans. However, with the likely presence of Yveltal EX due to hype, a Lightning attacker may very well come in handy. The reason for choosing Emogla EX is simple; he can at the cost of discarding a single Energy, hit for 90 damage with Electron Crush. When applying Weakness it can OHKO any EX, mainly Yveltal and Lugia EX.

Latias EX:

             A lot of people saw potential when Latias EX came out, but weren’t sure how to use it. While on its own it attack cost is very complex and takes a while to set up, but in a deck where different types of energy can easily be moved around Latias can find a home. Equipped with a Muscle Band, this gal can OHKO any Dragon EX, Mainly Rayquaza and Black Kyurem. Not only that however, but because of his wonderful Ability Bright Down, he is immune to lots of Pokémon run in decks he is useful against like Keldeo EX, Blastoise BCR, and Emboar BW.

Genesect EX:

Genesect in this Deck adds some extra help against Blastoise/Keldeo/Black Kyurem. Not many people will see a Genesect EX coming and can snag some prizes if they leave a Keldeo EX or Blastoise BCR active.

Victini EX:

            After reviewing the results for the Winter Regional’s, I realized how effective Victini EX was at combating Virizion/Genesect Variants. Seeing as the card much like Emogla EX, only requires one Energy of its type, can be effectively used consistently in a deck like this. Also in the event it is your starting Pokémon, with a Prism or Rainbow Energy you can accelerate Energy even better than Xerneas XY/96.

Conclusion:           

As you can see the deck has valid answers to big threats, and seeing as it has a reasonably simple setup, has potential. I’ve play tested the deck quite a bit on Play TCG and seen a lot of success. Looking onward, I see this format being very complex but feel a deck like this with the right cards could be a very strong play. Also pay close attention to future sets as I’m sure more Adorable Fairy Pokémon will be released that could go great in the deck! I hope others see the potential in the deck and can create their own variants as well. If you have any opinions or changes please let me know in the comments! I love Decks that can incorporate all kinds of different options and need your help to make this Fairy Garden the best it can be!

Thanks for Reading,

Spencer Trippi