A Closer Look at: Articuno/Palkia 18 Trainers

18 Trainer decks have existed since the release of Pokémon TCG Pocket and the Genetic Apex set. Rather than relying on a big knockout punch from cards like Mewtwo EX or the speed and pivot ability of Pikachu EX, 18 Trainers elected to live in the middle ground, attempting to use Misty to attack for 80 with Articuno EX a little too early as often as possible. Of course, spawning from Genetic Apex and Promo-A meant we had to play some, well, embarrassing cards to meet deckbuilding requirements.

That being said, the basic "combo" of Misty + Articuno EX was strong enough to see consistent play, even in the face of other archetypes that either outsped or outgunned it. It was also clear that future sets would surely bring additional Trainers and Supporters to fill in the gaps. Space-Time Smackdown and Triumphant Light did not disappoint; the two sets together, among other things, brought an alternative Basic to run in Palkia EX, the meta-defining Giant Cape and Rocky Helmet, an extra tempo/KO secure tool in Cyrus, and the -energy loving Irida.

Articuno EX will generally have stronger midgame pressure - it sacrifices the ability to consistently attack first as well as an endgame nuke in exchange for a strong attack curve of Ice Wing for 40 into Blizzard spam for 80 plus 10 to the bench. This is usually more than enough into decks that don't play EX Pokémon at all, such as Rampardos Fighting Toolbox. Articuno EX is also slightly better into Darkrai EX/Magnezone lists with its stronger midgame pressure while Magneton is building on the bench, as it can make more profitable attacks into Druddigon and Kangaskhan, and also threatens the one-shot into a stranded Magneton that's still building energy.

As a fringe benefit, this is also the easiest way to learn the deck if you were already playing Water 18 Trainers, since you already have the basic attacking curve practice.

Palkia EX is a relatively new addition from the Space-Time Smackdown set, and has a much spikier attack pattern. Rather than a consistent 80 all game, Palkia EX gains the ability to attack from turn one with Slash for 30, as well as the game-ending Dimensional Storm to flat-out KO the vast majority of EX Pokémon in the game while also ravaging the bench. Fittingly, Palkia EX is better into Celebi EX decks running Leafeon EX and Exeggutor EX thanks to its one-shot into their lategame sweeper in the endgame. The other benefit is the additional 10 HP, which can come up in matchups like Dialga EX + Arceus EX - Palkia EX will live a Metallic Turbo -> 2 bench Ultimate Force (or 3 bench with Potion), which Articuno EX will not survive.

That said, the average damage output of Palkia EX will be lower outside of the first turn, even counting a Dimensional Storm, as the 3-energy mandatory discard forces Palkia EX back to Slashing until it can build back up.

No matter which basic you choose, Misty is the best card in the deck, and the primary reason we're interested in playing in the first place. 50% of the time you play Misty, she wastes your Supporter for the turn. However, the other 50% where she gets at least one heads is a game-winning advantage. Compared to that, what's a whiffed supporter here and there?

It might not seem like Misty did a lot if she only lands one heads, but rest assured that a turn 1 Misty hitting heads once gives enough tempo to run away with the early game. Consider the situation where you lead Palkia EX and go first - normally, you would have to wait until the second turn to start attacking, at which point the opponent can evolve out of range or otherwise outscale you. However, a turn 1 Misty can steal the first attack, effectively giving you two free Slashes at an opposing Basic!

Irida is the second big reason we want to play with . Irida is the big consistency boost that took 18 Trainers from a fringe cheese deck to a solid, well-oiled tempo machine. Where Misty directly generates tempo by giving us sooner access to dealing damage, Irida removes tempo from our opponents by negating their attacks. Any attack that doesn't do a crippling amount of damage or that doesn't have a strong followup threat that can't be healed through is effectively nullified through a use of Irida, similarly to how decks utilize Erika. This can be the difference between winning and losing a damage race, which is especially vital since we will invariably lose to a mere two knockouts every single game. As a bonus, a damaged basic that ends up on our bench will also be healed by Irida, which can completely reverse a losing situation.

More healing never hurts, especially since we can play any of these the same turn we play Irida. Altogether, it is theoretically possible to heal 100 damage off one of our Pokémon in a single turn, which effectively undoes attacks such as Dialga EX's Heavy Impact, two swings from a Power Link Carnivine or a Skarmory, or even a super-effective Sparking Gadget from Pachirisu EX.

What's better than running the two best tempo Supporters in the game? Running the three best - because we have Misty - and running 2 copies of all of them! Cyrus is easily enabled by Articuno EX's Blizzard and Palkia EX's Dimensional Storm hitting the bench, but is also indirectly set up by Palkia EX's Slash - frequently, the opponent will be in a position where they will want to retreat to avoid further chip damage from more Slashes, setting up an easy Cyrus pickup later.

Sabrina, meanwhile, is much more flexible –she will frequently be used to interrupt our opponent's plans by jostling a tank out of position onto the bench, stranding a high retreat Pokémon in active to be our personal punching bag, and all of the other things we've seen her be used for. Don't leave home without 2 of each!

Drawing cards is good. These draw you cards. Hopefully this is in all of your decks! The 2x Poké Ball might seem strange, given that there is only one additional Basic in the deck that can even be searched for. However, we want to draw our other cards often enough that we're fine having the second copy of Poké Ball be a completely dead card in exchange for pulling the second Basic out of our deck as often as possible.

Pokémon Tools have proven to be game-breakingly powerful, and Rocky Helmet piles on even more pressure once attached to our Basic - 50-100 damage a turn when fully set up is nothing to scoff at! Whether you elect to run the second Helmet or the second Cape is up to your preference and what your goals are. Rocky Helmet is, of course, higher damage output, which can matter when we're in a sustained damage race. The second Giant Cape can be useful to dodge breakpoints, particularly from opposing Palkia EX or to force additional heads flips from an opposing Celebi EX. In a pinch, it can even be used to survive a Head Smash from an active Rampardos with Lucario support! Generally speaking, the second Helmet is more of an auto-include in Palkia EX variants in order to push more sustained pressure, but I again leave this to your taste.

Mars

This is one of the very few decks where running Mars can actually be relatively strong. The first reason is we're not really making deckbuilding sacrifices - unlike other decks that have more limited Trainer and Supporter slots, we just have more room to fit in hand disruption. The second reason is if we lose a Pokémon, our opponent always needs one point to win - Mars will therefore vengefully reduce our opponent to just one card remaining! Usually we can tell if an opposing threat will knock out our Active and set up our energy to swing back, making a Mars even more devastating if it removes retreat aids, evolutions, healing, or any number of other game-sealing combinations! It is generally not recommended to Mars for 3 - we might as well be playing Red Card and not be using our Supporter for the turn. Also, don't play Red Card.

Giovanni

It's pretty hard to say no to more damage! Giovanni is more obviously useful in Palkia EX variants, as it pushes Dimensional Storm to the pivotal 160 damage breakpoint - this will one-shot a caped 140 HP Pokémon, including Magnezone, Darkrai EX, and Arceus EX. It also forces Exeggutor EX to be wearing a cape or get KO'd in one hit. Even not counting the one-hit-KO potential this opens up, we can use Giovanni as a freewheel tempo Supporter to put pressure on our opponent's Active and push them into a range to threaten a KO on the next attack –an example is making Articuno EX's damage curve go from 120 damage over two turns to 130 damage over two turns, notably forcing out Erika, Giant Cape, or Potions from an opposing Celebi EX among others. Do note that Giovanni's 10 damage will not add 10 to the bench damage done by Blizzard or Dimensional Storm - this slot would be a lot less flexible if it did!

Blue

An uncommon Supporter, but far from useless. Blue is, at his best, used to help dodge one-shot breakpoints to enable one final attacking turn for a KO. As good as Irida is, she doesn't heal KO'd Pokémon - Blue can function as a poor-man's extra copy of Giant Cape to buy some time to find healing.

An example of how we are going to be ahead on tempo: when given the choice to Misty on turn 1 or Research on turn 1, we will almost always Misty. The extra energy we get from a successful Misty is significantly more impactful the earlier it gets attached, whereas we can usually find the time to draw cards once our attacker gets established.

Likewise, whiffing on a Misty by hitting tails is much more palatable on turn 1 when we're not likely to get KO'd on the immediate backswing, and much worse on a turn where we need to get lucky with heads or lose the game.