Scizor/Cherrim (TCG): Difference between revisions

This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it.

Scizor/Cherrim
Scizor and Cherrim Types used Major cards Scizor and Cherrim Era 2008-2010

Scizor/Cherrim is a deck archetype that uses Scizor and Cherrim to do a fairly large amount of damage for few energy. The deck is widely regarded as one of the best moderately competitive decks for newer Pokémon Trading Card Game players because of the simplicity of its strategy and the ease with which it can be played. Although it has won few tournaments, Scizor/Cherrim is one of the longest surviving recognized archetypes of its era, with variants springing up all the way from the Stormfront expansion's release to the present day. The list shown in this article is an aggressive one that would have been used in early 2010. Most builds run a small Pokémon line to allow more room for Trainer and Supporter cards. Because of this, it is easily countered by decks such as DialgaChomp and VileGar which can impose a Trainer lock. The popularity of these archetypes means that Scizor/Cherrim is infrequently played.

Strategy

Roseanne's Research

As mentioned above, Scizor/Cherrim employs an extremely simplistic strategy. The deck attempts to get many Scizor and Cherrim as quickly as possible, with and potentially Expert Belt attached to the former. Scizor/Cherrim suffers from a major restriction on its ability to set up quickly, though, because the deck should not use Poké-Powers. Scizor's Pound Down attack does only 40 damage instead of 70 if the player has any Pokémon with Poké-Powers in play. This means the deck cannot abuse Uxie's Set Up, Sunflora's Sunshine Grace, or any other Poké-Powers that could be very beneficial to the deck if included. Unown R is an exception, since its Retire Poké-Power allows the player to draw a card and discard Unown R, meaning it will not affect Scizor's damage output.

Scizor/Cherrim compensates for this handicap by utilizing a strong Trainer and Supporter engine. Cards such as Quick Ball, Luxury Ball, Poké Drawer +, and Pokémon Collector help the deck set up quickly. As the deck cannot hit for as much damage as many other modern archetypes, such as Mother Flygon, and does not have ways to disrupt the opponent's strategy as decks like LuxChomp do, speed is its the most essential aspect. The deck should ideally have a Scizor ready to attack by turn two, at which point it attempts to take six prizes as quickly as possible so as not to prolong the game. Rather than keeping its main attacker alive, as Regigigas and certain other decks do, an aggressive Scizor/Cherrim build sacrifices sturdiness for speed and power. When a Scizor is knocked out, Night Maintenance or Palmer's Contribution is used to shuffle it back into the deck, at which point the player can easily return it to the field using Trainer cards.

Key Cards

Broken Time-Space

• Scizor - Scizor is the deck's main attacker. For , Scizor's Pound Down attack does 70 damage if the player has no Pokémon with Poké-Powers in play. Factoring in the effects of Cherrim's Sunny Day Poké-Body and Expert Belt, Pound Down can hit for significant damage. Scizor's Accelerate attack, which costs , does a mediocre 30 damage. However, it is useful in that, if it knocks out the Defending Pokémon, it prevents all damage done to Scizor during the opponent's next turn. Not to be overlooked is Scizor's Honeycomb Defender Poké-Body, which effectively increases Scizor's HP by decreasing damage done to it by 40 when Scizor has six or more damage counters on it. Combined with Scizor's 100 HP, which is considered good for a Stage 1 evolved Pokémon, and Expert Belt, which increases Scizor's HP to 120, Honeycomb Defender can make it difficult to knock Scizor out in two hits.
• Cherrim - Cherrim is the deck's main support Pokémon. Its Sunny Day Poké-Body allows each of the player's Grass-type Pokémon's attacks to do 10 more damage. Sunny Day Bodies can be stacked, meaning a Pound Down with four Cherrim in play can do 110 damage without Expert Belt. Cherrim also makes a decent attacker in a pinch, with Salty-Sweet Pollen doing 20 damage, not factoring in Sunny Day, for no energy cost. Salty-Sweet Pollen also removes two damage counters from one of the Scizor/Cherrim player's Pokémon.
• Bebe's Search - Bebe's Search is simply a card that allows Scizor/Cherrim to set up faster by allowing the player to search out any Pokémon out of the deck.
• Roseanne's Research - Since Scizor/Cherrim relies on Grass-type energies to attack, Roseanne's Research is a versatile card that can be used to either grab the necessary energies to attack or search out necessary Basic Pokémon from the deck.
• Broken Time-Space - Scizor/Cherrim relies completely on Stage 1 evolution cards. Broken Time-Space decreases the time needed for the deck to set up by allowing the player to evolve Scizor and Cherrim one turn faster than normal.

Typical Decklist

The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.

Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
4×	Scizor
4×	Scyther
4×	Cherrim
4×	Cherubi
2×	Unown R
1×	Chatot
1×	Unown Q
4×	Bebe's Search	Su
2×	Pokémon Collector	Su
3×	Roseanne's Research	Su
2×	Cynthia's Feelings	Su
1×	Professor Oak's New Theory	Su
2×	Expert Belt	T
2×	Pokémon Communication	T
1×	Luxury Ball	T
2×	Quick Ball	T
2×	Night Maintenance	T
4×	Poké Drawer +	T
3×	Broken Time-Space	St
12×	Grass Energy	E	—

Possible Tech Cards

Professor Oak's New Theory

• Unown G - Unown G prevents Scizor/Cherrim's Pokémon from being affected by the attacks of certain main archetypes of the day, such as Gengar's Shadow Room attack and Machamp's Take Out attack, from the Mother Gengar and Machamp archetypes, respectively.
• Professor Oak's Visit or Professor Oak's New Theory - These cards simply allow for extra drawing and a potentially faster setup. They are more luck-reliant than searching cards such as Bebe's Search, but can have a better payoff.

This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.