Blacephalon was a Pokémon Trading Card Gamedeck archetype played in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 season, also known as Baby Blacephalon due to another deck focusing in a Blacephalon with a rule box. The deck's strategy revolved around using attacks that needed to consume Energy cards to deal big knocouts and retrieving back the necessary resources to attack in the following turns. Blacephalon players took 3rd place at Players Cup II, as well other relevant spots at Regional events.
Strategy
The deck focused on playing Blacephalon's Fireball CircusAttack to discard Energy cards from the player's hand and deal 50 damage tmes the number of discarded cards this way, which in the right conditions could knock out any Pokémon in one hit. The attack costs to be used, but a Blacephalon could be quickly charged with Welder at the expense of no longer having those Energy cards in hand to be discarded.
The deck had ways to add Energy to the hand and recycle resources from the discard pile since it needed to discard many Energy cards to knock out TAG TEAMPokémon-GX, and Blacephalon would usually be knocked out after attacking. Other attackers could be played since the deck played Welder, but with most options awarding more prize cards than Blacephalon they were reserved for key moments during the match, such as when the player did not have enough Energy cards to properly use Fireball Circus.
Blacephalon - Blazer could be an often useful attack but required luck to reveal a prize card as a Energy. The main attack was Fireball Circus, which for 3 Energy allowed the player to discard Energy cards from their hand and deal 50 damage times the number of discarded cards to the defending Pokémon.
Blacephalon-GX - Secondary attacker that could, once per game, use Burst-GX to discard a player's prize card and attach it to one of their Pokémon if it was a Energy card. Mind Blown was preferred for the lategame, since it would send Energy cards in play to the Lost Zone where it could not be retrieved. After its rotation, alternates like Reshiram & Charizard-GX were used as secondary attackers.
Victini ♢ - While legal in the format, it was a backup attacker that could, for 2 Energy, shuffle all Energy cards from the discard pile back to the player's deck and deal damage for each shuffled Energy.
Welder - Attached up to 2 Energy cards from the players' hand to a Pokémon in play and then drew 3 cards. Useful to power up all attackers from the deck.
Fire Crystal - Retrieved 3 Energy cards from the discard pile to the hand. Decks could use Energy Retrieval along with it for extended support.
Fiery Flint - While legal in the format, it searched the deck for 4 Energy cards at the cost of discarding 2 other cards from the deck.
Typical decklist
Brennan Kamerman's decklist at the 2020 Bochum Regionals, Germany
The following cards are often used in Blacephalon in place of certain cards included in the above lists.
Jirachi - Since Blacephalon would be constantly knocked out, Jirachi's Stellar WishAbility could be used to try drawing Trainer cards from the deck almost every turn. This required switching cards in the deck to remove asleep Jirachi from the active spot.
Oricorio-GX - Its Ability allowed the to player draw cards whenever a Pokémon was knocked out, reducing the need of Supporters other than Welder.
Pidgeotto - Played to draw cards with its Ability.
Wishful Baton - While legal in the format, it allowed the Pokémon it was attached to move its basic Energy cards to a Benched Pokémon when knocked out.
Giant Hearth - Stadium that supported getting Energy cards from the deck. Some decks would use Ultra Space and Heat Factory ♢ along or in the place of this card.
Energy cards to deal big knocouts and retrieving back the necessary resources to attack in the following turns. Blacephalon players took 3rd place at Players Cup II, as well other relevant spots at Regional events.
