Abomazong (TCG)
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Abomazong was a somewhat popular competitive deck in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The deck was a favorite among some competitive players for its ability to spread damage quickly and make a big hit if need be. Although the deck had a good showing in the relatively small City Championships series of Premier Events, it performed poorly at larger events, when played. Due to the release of cards such as Manectric and Nidoqueen which either prevent or nullify damage to the bench, spread decks have seen a serious decline in use and Abomazong is essentially a dead archetype.
History
Although the exact origin of the deck is unknown, the first well-known player to effectively use the deck was Jimmy Ballard of Illinois. A challenge to players to build a deck using Abomasnow appeared on the Banginboards, Ballard's invite-only TCG discussion forum, and the best combo was thought to be with Bronzong.
Strategy
Abomazong has a seemingly straightforward strategy, but in reality it is a deck with many options and often overlooked strategic advantages over other current archetypes.
The basic, solid strategy of Abomazong centers purely around spreading damage with Abomasnow's Snow Play attack and Bronzong's Pain Amplifier attack. Snow Play does 20 damage to the Defending Pokémon and 20 damage to each of the opponent's non-
or -
Pokémon, all for an Energy Cost of 
. Provided Abomazong is not facing a water- or grass-centric deck, this is a very powerful spread effect. The second key part of the assault is Bronzong's Pain Amplifier attack. Pain Amplifier is a free attack that places one damage counter on each of the opponent's Pokémon that already has damage counters on it. For no energy cost, this is a very strong follow up to Snow Play. Another reason Bronzong is used is for its Cursed Alloy Poké-Power. Cursed Alloy states that "As long as Bronzong is your Active Pokémon, put 1 damage counter on each of your opponent's Pokémon that has any Poké-Powers between turns." This simply piles on damage to Pokémon already ailing from Snow Play and Pain Amplifier, and it is helpful against most decks since Poké-Powers, such as those of Claydol and Uxie, are very popular for support.
Although the deck's basic strategy centers around Snow Play, Pain Amplifier, and Cursed Alloy, Abomazong is far more versatile than the average spread deck. It needs to be, since Snow Play is ineffective on - and -type Pokémon. And spreading damage is unproductive against decks using high-HP Pokémon. Abomazong has other ways of dealing with decks like these.
When facing a deck where its typical strategy is ineffectual, the focus of Abomazong shifts toward Abomasnow's Below Zero attack and Bronzong's Coating attack. Below Zero does 60 damage for and reads that "if Abomasnow evolved from Snover during this turn, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed." 60 damage is decent alone, but the Paralyzation effect makes Below Zero a real threat in some situations. It can buy Abomazong one additional turn to set up, while stalling the opponent's strategy by denying them an attack. Bronzong's Coating attack does 60 damage for 
, and reduces damage done to Bronzong during the next turn by 20. This is great for stalling and doing decent damage at the same time.
Additional supporting component's to Abomazong's strategy, such as Claydol, are discussed in the "Cards" section.
Cards
Key Cards
- Abomasnow - The main attacker in the deck, chiefly uses its Snow Play attack to spread damage to all the opponent's Pokémon.
- Bronzong - Supports Abomasnow with its Pain Amplifier attack and Cursed Alloy Poké-Power to help further spread damage after the initial onslaught by Snow Play.
- Claydol - Uses its Cosmic Power Poké-Power to allow the player to draw several new cards each turn.
- Double Colorless Energy - For providing the part of Bronzong's Coating and Abomasnow's's Snow Play and Below Zero.
Other Pokémon
- Snover - Chiefly used for evolving into Abomasnow. Can also stall with its Hide attack.
- Bronzor - Chiefly used for evolving into Bronzong.
- Baltoy - Only used for evolving into Claydol.
- Spiritomb - Used to increase damage already caused by Snow Play with its Cursed Breath Poké-Power.
- Azelf - Uses its Time Walk Poké-Power to root needed Pokémon out of the Abomazong player's prizes.
Other Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums
- Bebe's Search - Simply used to search for whatever Pokémon the player may need at any given time.
- Roseanne's Research - Searches for Basic Pokémon and/or Energy Cards. Very useful.
- Interviewer's Questions - Allows rapid drawing of Energy cards.
- Professor Oak's Visit - Functions as a simple drawing card.
- Team Galactic's Wager - Used to refresh the hand and possibly gain hand advantage.
- Dusk Ball - Good card to search Pokémon without using the Supporter card for the turn.
- Poké Radar - Same use as Dusk Ball.
- Warp Point - Extremely useful for field control and swapping out heavily damaged Pokémon.
- Luxury Ball - Like Bebe's Search except not a Supporter; can only be used once per game, though.
- Broken Time-Space - Allows a faster set-up, since it allows the Basics to evolve into their Stage Ones a single turn.
- Night Maintenance - Recycles Knocked Out Pokémon and Energies back into the deck. Useful for obvious reasons.
- Moonlight Stadium - Counters other Stadium cards such as Snowpoint Temple. Also provides Bronzong with free retreat.
Energy Cards
- Double Colorless Energy - For providing the part of Bronzong's Coating and Abomasnow's's Snow Play and Below Zero.
- Call Energy - Useful in the early game for setting up.
- Water Energy - Used to power Abomasnow's Below Zero attack.
- Psychic Energy - Used to power Bronzong's Coating attack.
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 Name | Type | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3x | Abomasnow | |
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| 3x | Snover | |
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| 3x | Bronzong | |
|
| 3x | Bronzor | |
|
| 2x | Claydol |  |
|
| 2x | Baltoy | |
|
| 1x | Spiritomb | |
H
|
| 1x | Azelf | |
|
| 4x | Bebe's Search | T | 
|
| 2x | Roseanne's Research | T |
|
| 1x | Interviewer's Questions | Su |
|
| 1x | Pokémon Collector | Su |
|
| 2x | Professor Oak's Visit | T |
|
| 2x | Team Galactic's Wager | T |
|
| 2x | Dusk Ball | T |
|
| 2x | Poké Radar | T |
|
| 2x | Warp Point | T |
|
| 1x | Luxury Ball | T |
|
| 2x | Broken Time-Space | St |
|
| 2x | Night Maintenance | T |
|
| 1x | Moonlight Stadium | T |
|
| 4x | Double Colorless Energy | E |
|
| 4x | Call Energy | E |
|
| 5x | Water Energy | E |
|
| 5x | Psychic Energy | E |
|
Variable Tech Cards
These are cards that may or may not be in the deck build depending on the player's style:
- Unown G - Some players may choose to use this card as a counter to decks that focus on placing damage counters, such as Dusknoir variants.
Restriction
Abomazong's two main attackers, Abomasnow and Bronzong, are still legal forPokémon Organized Play as of the 2010-2011 rotation, the deck's main source of drawpower, Claydol, is not. Although Abomazong could still be used with an alternative engine, the decline in spread decks has caused Abomazong to be essentially unplayable.
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This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |
