Metanite (TCG): Difference between revisions

Metanite
[[File:|180px]] Expansion {{{expansion}}} Release date {{{release}}} Types used Major cards Metagross δ, Dragonite δ, Rare Candy Coin {{{coin}}}

Metanite is a Pokémon TCG deck that utilizes the Holon Engine, and combines the "Crush and Burn" attack of Metagross δ with the "Delta Charge" Poké-Power of Dragonite δ. The Holon Engine burns through the deck very quickly, allowing a player to root out their copies of Rare Candy, which in turn will let the player quickly get their Metagross δ and Dragonite δ into play. As an additional speed boost for the deck, Holon's Castform's "Delta Draw" attack can give the player many extra draws.

History

The deck was created some time ago, after EX Delta Species was released (obviously). It quickly rose in popularity until it was declared by many to be the ultimate deck to beat. It was one of three dominant Deck archetypes to be listed and broken down in the July 2007 issue of Beckett Pokémon Unofficial Collector, the other two being Raieggs and Flygon EX/Delta. At that point, it simply soared in popularity until it was removed from Pokémon Organized Play later that year.

Strategy

Holon's Castform is the ideal starter for the deck, giving the player extra drawing early. Setup is very simple, beginning with a Beldum δ, Dratini δ, and Nidoran♀ δ on the bench and evolving them into their final forms as soon as possible. The Holon Engine burns through the deck quickly, giving the player all the hand support they need after Holon's Castform is knocked out. Once the player has evolved their Metagross δ and one or more Dragonite δs, they should probably make Metagross δ their active Pokémon and begin discarding energies and Delta Charging them back to continuously deal huge damage with Crush and Burn. If Metagross δ is knocked out, a Dragonite δ should be sufficient to finish the job at that point.

Cards

Key Cards

• Metagross δ is the main attacker for the deck, with its Crush and Burn attack, when, combined with Dragonite δ's Delta Charge Poké-Power can consistently deal massive damage to the opposing Pokémon. Metagross δ's Delta Control Poké-Power doesn't hurt either, allowing a player to look at the top four cards of their deck, chose one of them and put it into their hand, putting the other three on the bottom of their deck.
• Dragonite δ, while not a big attacker, can deal good damage when it needs to. However, the real reason it's in the deck is for its awesome Poké-Power, Delta Charge. It lets a player attach a Lightning Energy from their discard pile to any of their benched Pokémon. Then, the energy is discarded next turn, adding an additional 20 damage onto Metagross δ's Crush and Burn attack.
• Holon Transceiver ensures that the player will have a Supporter Card each turn. A more in-depth description of the card's uses in on the Holon Engine page.
• Holon's Castform boosts the player's drawing early because of its cheap, effective Delta Draw attack. The player will soon be drawing as many as five extra cards per turn. The fact that it can also be attached as a special energy later in the game just makes it all the more versatile.
• Rare Candy lets a player skip an evolution, such as evolving Dratini δ straight into Dragonite δ, instead of having Dragonair δ in the middle. This also works with the Metagross δ and Nidoqueen δ lines. Another plus of the card is that it be used to evolve on the first turn a Pokémon is placed on the field.

Other Pokémon

• Holon's Voltorb is only used because it can be attached as an energy or placed on the field as a relatively useless Pokémon. It has several uses, although none of them are especially great.
• Beldum δ, while a decent offensive Basic Pokémon, is nothing special in the long run. Unfortunately, it is needed to evolve into Metagross δ.
• Metang δ is to evolve into Metagross δ, although Rare Candy is a more efficient option.
• Dratini δ is here for the same reason as Beldum δ, although, for all intents and purposes, is even more pathetic on its own.
• Dragonair δ is Dragonite δ's Metang δ, a middle evolution with mediocre stats.
• Latios is a tech lineup against stage two evolutions which may overrun the deck by brute force,
• Nidoran♀ δ can be evolved into Nidoqueen δ using a Rare Candy. Otherwise, it's horrible.
• Nidoqueen δ searches out ANY Pokémon with its great Invitation Poké-Power, speeding up the deck greatly.

Other Trainers/Supporters

• Holon Mentor searches out any three Basic Pokémon from the deck.
• Holon Adventurer is a good drawing card, allowing a player to benefit from discarding a Pokémon they don't need.
• Holon Researcher is an alternative to Celio's Network that is searchable by Holon Transceiver.
• Holon Farmer is a last resort to save a player from running out of cards in their deck, which is quite possible due to how quickly the deck burns through cards.
• Warp Point switches out a damaged Pokémon to put another one with full HP into play. Another use is if a player's active Pokémon is close to being knocked-out and they want to switch the opponent's active Pokémon to one less capable of dealing heavy damage.
• Windstorm gets rid of pesky Poké-Power stopping trainers and stadiums, such as Cessation Crystal and Cursed Stone. If Poké-Powers are stopped, the whole deck screeches to a halt.
• Copycat allows for extra drawing and hand-refreshing, which are always good things.

Energy Cards

• Metal Energy pays for Crush and Burn, although it is not renewable by Delta Charge.
• Lightning Energy are absolutely neccesary, regardless. The deck cannot be played without them.

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
4x	Holon's Castform		File:Rare uncom.gif
1x	Holon's Voltorb		File:Rare com.gif
4x	Beldum δ		File:Rare com.gif
2x	Metang δ		File:Rare uncom.gif
4x	Metagross δ		File:Rare rare.gifH
3x	Dratini δ		File:Rare com.gif
2x	Dragonair δ		File:Rare uncom.gif
3x	Dragonite δ		File:Rare rare.gifH
1x	Latios		File:Rare rare.gifH
1x	Nidoran♀ δ		File:Rare com.gif
1x	Nidoqueen δ		File:Rare rare.gifH
4x	Holon Transceiver	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
3x	Holon Mentor	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Holon Adventurer	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Holon Researcher	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
1x	Holon Farmer	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
2x	Warp Point	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
3x	Windstorm	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
1x	Copycat	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
4x	Rare Candy	T	File:Rare uncom.gif
4x	Metal Energy	E	File:Rare rare.gif
7x	Lightning Energy	E	File:Rare rare.gifH

Restriction

After the 2007 TCG World Championships, the EX Delta Species set was restricted from Pokémon Organized Play by the rotation, and Metagross δ, Dragonite δ, and most of the Holon Engine went with it, rendering the deck completely unusable. It was a deck that ruled the game for a long time, and banning it helped begin a whole new format.

If it were Legal Today

Very few or no changes would benefit the deck, due to the fact that it was only restricted recently. In fact, the deck would still probably dominate the current format.

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