Sablelock (TCG)

Sablelock
Sableye and Garchomp C LV.X Types used Major cards Sableye, Garchomp C LV.X, Uxie, and Cyrus's Conspiracy Era 2010-2011

Sablelock was widely regarded as the best deck in the format during the second half of the 2009-2010 season. Among many other tournament victories with the deck, a Sablelock player, Con Lee, was the winner of the 2010 United States National Championships. Sablelock is played for its disruptive capabilities, ability to donk, and easiness to set up. All cards in Sablelock are currently legal for competitive play.

Strategy

Cyrus's Initiative

The ideal start for Sablelock is, as the name suggests, Sableye. Sableye's Impersonate Poké-Body will allow the player to always go first, except against another Sableye. Going first, although it prevents the player from using Trainer cards, Supporter cards, or Stadium cards, allows Sableye to either knock out the opponent's active with Overconfident or use Impersonate to discard whatever Supporter they feel will give them the best chance to win. Overconfident takes only one energy. With a Special Darkness energy, Overconfident reaches 50 damage, enough to knock out many Basic Pokémon. Crobat G can be played to do an additional 10 damage with its Flash Bite Poké-Power. Sablelock often wins by knocking out the opponent's only Basic Pokémon on the first turn. However, if a knockout is not possible, Impersonate is used. Generally, the Supporter is a Cyrus's Initiative to attempt to decrease the opponent's options early in the game, but if Sablelock is suffering from a bad start, Pokémon Collector is another common choice.

After the first turn, Sablelock attempts to keep a sort of "lock" on the opponent by limiting the cards they have in their hand through Cyrus's Initiative, Judge, Giratina, and Power Spray. Judge and Giratina's Let Loose Poké-Power function in essentially the same way, dropping the opponent's hand size to four cards. The difference is that Let Loose forces the Sablelock player to shuffle his or her hand into their deck and draw four cards as well. This can actually be helpful if the Sablelock player is low on cards or has nothing useful in their hand. While limiting the opponent's options, Sablelock snipes the opponent's bench and knocks out their Basics for cheap prizes using Honchkrow G and Garchomp C LV.X. Damaging the opponent's Active Pokémon is generally done by either Honchkrow if need be, or Sableye if the Pokémon is already heavily damaged. Some decks run a variant Ambipom G as well, which can we used for early game knockouts.

Cyrus's Conspiracy

Sablelock has a strong engine in Cyrus's Conspiracy. Cyrus's Conspiracy allows the player to search his or her deck for one Supporter card, one Trainer card with Team Galactic's Invention in its name, and one Basic Energy card. This allows the Sablelock player to always keep their hand stocked with useful Supporters, keep up a high level of disruption with Power Spray, and always have Energy cards in their hand. Uxie is a critical part of the deck because it provides a powerful drawing ability in its Set Up Poké-Power. Early in the game, Sablelock will often run low on cards in its hand. Set Up replenishes the hand by allowing the player to draw until they have seven cards. Uxie can later be leveled up into Uxie LV.X for extra drawing with its Trade Off Poké-Power, in addition to providing a powerful attack in Zen Blade.

Key Cards

• Sableye - Sableye is used for donking with Overconfident and for earlygame setup and/or disruption with Impersonate.
• Garchomp C LV.X - Garchomp C LV.X provides a powerful attacker that can hit 80 on any opponent's Pokémon for only with Dragon Rush. This cost is generally covered by Energy Gain along with a Double Colorless Energy.
• Honchkrow G - Essentially a weaker but more consistent version of Garchomp C LV.X, Honchkrow G can do 40 to any Pokémon in play with damage on it for with Target Attack. If a Sableye start is not possible, Honchkrow G can also assist the Sablelock player setup with Honcho's Command.
• Honchkrow - Honchkrow is the deck's heavy hitter. It is used to knock out any strong opponent's active Pokémon. It was initially placed in the deck as a counter to Machamp, a tremendous threat to Sablelock.
• Uxie - Uxie is the deck's one-drop support Pokémon, allowing the player to draw extra cards with its Set Up Poké-Power.
• Cyrus's Conspiracy - As described above, Cyrus's Conspiracy is the deck's most important searching Supporter card.
• Cyrus's Initiative - Cyrus's Initiative is commonly used through Sableye's Impersonate to limit the opponent's cards in hand early in the game.
• Poké Turn - Poké Turn allows the Sablelock player to scoop up any Pokémon SP and return it to his or her hand. This effect is often used to abuse Dragon Rush two turns in a row by scooping up Garchomp C LV.X, to use Crobat G's Flash Bite multiple times, or to remove a bad start such as Chatot G.
• Power Spray is used to prevent the opponent from using Poké-Powers to get setup early in the game. Power Spraying the opponent's Uxie's Set Up can be devastating if the opponent has few cards in his or her hand.
• Energy Gain is used to power up Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush more efficiently.
• Double Colorless Energy - Double Colorless Energy is vitally important, as it provides an inexpensive way to power up Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush and Honchkrow's Riot attacks.

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
2×	Garchomp C LV.X
2×	Garchomp C
4×	Sableye
2×	Honchkrow
2×	Murkrow
2×	Honchkrow G
1×	Uxie LV.X
3×	Uxie
1×	Giratina
2×	Crobat G
1×	Chatot G
1×	Unown Q
4×	Cyrus's Conspiracy	Su
2×	Pokémon Collector	Su
2×	Cyrus's Initiative	Su
1×	Bebe's Search	Su
1×	Judge	Su
1×	Palmer's Contribution	Su
4×	Poké Turn	T
3×	Power Spray	T
2×	Energy Gain	T
2×	SP Radar	T
1×	Luxury Ball	T
1×	Expert Belt	T
1×	VS Seeker	T
4×	Double Colorless Energy	E
4×	Special Darkness Energy	E
4×	Basic Darkness Energy	E

Possible Tech Cards

Mewtwo LV.X

The following cards are often used in Sablelock in place of certain cards included in the above list.

• Mewtwo LV.X - Mewtwo LV.X provides a way to easily beat other decks based on Pokémon SP. Its Poké-Body, Psybarrier prevents it from being damaged by Basic Pokémon.
• Azelf - Azelf's Time Walk Poké-Power can be used in the event that an important Pokémon card(s) is prized. The above build does not use Azelf because it runs two of most critical Pokémon, such as Garchomp C LV.X and Honchkrow.
• Cyclone Energy - Cyclone Energy fits in with the concept of disruption, since it forces the opponent to change their Active Pokémon and, as a result, their attacking pattern.
• Aaron's Collection - Aaron's Collection can be used in place of Palmer's Contribution. Although it does not allow the Sablelock player to retrieve as many Pokémon and Energies from his or her discard pile, they are placed into the player's hand rather than shuffled into their deck.