Hello guys, welcome back to another article from pokemoncard.io. In today’s article, I’m going to discuss an update for the Blissey V deck with cards from Astral Radiance. Enjoy!
Here’s an example of the deck:
This is just an example, if the deck didn’t work for you, you can try to experiment with it yourself and get comfortable with it.
Deck Overview
Blissey V got a huge update in Astral Radiance with Miltank being released. You can do tank & wall gameplay while still dealing damage to your opponent. Blissey V will be your main tank and damage dealer and Miltank will be your wall in case your opponent only plays Pokémon V as their main attacker. Crushing Hammer is also an addition to the deck as the source of disruption.
Blissey V
The egg monster is here and it is stronger than ever. In this format, Blissey V gets quite a significant boost to its arsenal. Miltank and Switch Cart are two examples of how much the Blissey V deck improves in this format. Its ability, Natural Care, is actually not that useful because, in this format, there’s almost no Special Condition deck that stands out.
The key part here is its HP and its attack. Blissey V has a whopping 250HP for a basic Pokemon V and it is as big as some of the Pokemon VSTAR like Whimsicott VSTAR. With HP like that and being a basic Pokemon, make Blissey V easy to use and take a lot less deck space. But only having big HP is not enough to make Blissey V playable, it also needs to have a good attack.
Its attack, Blissful Blass, is a very unique attack because it can scale up pretty high if you manage to hold Blissey V for more than 2 turns. It can easily take up all special energy that provides Colorless energy using its attack. Yes, you are limited to taking only 3 cards from your discard pile, but if those cards are Powerful Energy or Double Turbo Energy, it can really scale up pretty scary in a single turn (3 Powerful Energy makes it an extra 150 damage, while 3 Double Turbo Energy makes it an extra 120 damage). You also have a high HP which means that you can hold up at least more than 1 turn unless you meet a weakness matchup.
Of course, I bring a full copy of Blissey V because I want to maximize the chance of drawing them and having only 3 is quite risky when 2 of them are getting prized.
Miltank
Miltank is the newest addition to this deck. Why Miltank? Because of its ability, Miracle Body can easily hold off the opponent's Pokemon V at bay while we heal up or set up another Blissey V or even another Miltank. It is also a single prize card so losing it will not heavily impact the prize trade unlike losing Blissey V.
Then, we look at its attack, Rout. Its attack cost is two colourless, which is great because you can just fit a Double Turbo Energy with it. Its attack effect is also quite good for a single prize card because you can deal a maximum of 110 damage while keeping any Pokémon V from attacking you. This can be a very good strategy because your opponent needs to have a single prize attacker, an attack that can go through, or using Cancel Cologne while you chipping their HP away.
I bring 2 copies in this deck but you can increase it to 3 copies.
Radiant Greninja
Another new card in this deck is Radiant Greninja. Its ability, Concealed Cards is a very great ability that synergizes well with Blissey V gameplay. As you guys may know, Blissey V is sometimes quite struggling in terms of draw power. Blissey V is also well known for having energies that can take up space up to a third of the deck which can significantly impact its draw chance. Having Radiant Greninja really helps this deck because you can at least have 2 fresh cards while discarding an energy card which can be useful when attacking with Blissey V.
As you guys may know, you can only bring 1 Radiant Pokemon in the deck so it will be only 1 copy of Radiant Greninja.
Yveltal
A simple card to beat Mew VMAX deck? Yveltal is the answer. Its first attack, Cry of Destruction, can easily discard 3 Special Energy from your opponent and it can be 3 Fusion Strike Energy. Then its second attack, Dark Feather, can easily do a 2-turn knockout to Mew VMAX while they are still struggling to find another energy to attack. It is also the reason why I bring 1 Aurora Energy to my deck. While it can also discard a card from my hand, it can also give Yveltal the energy it needed to use Dark Feather. It is a great card to have in case you are facing Mew VMAX.
This time, I only bring 1 copy of Yveltal because I’m getting fewer Mew VMAX matchups in this format. Maybe people are still trying to experiment with the format and/or try the other BDIF deck like Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR.
Hammer Time!
Playing with Blissey V and Miltank opens up quite a lot of space and to fill that, I play Crushing Hammer. Energy disruption is always a great thing especially when you have the necessary deck space. With the current format being quite packed with special energies, having an energy disruption can greatly impact the opponent's game plan. You also get more time/turn as Blissey V will be attacked fewer by the opponent.
I bring 4 copies of Crushing Hammer in this deck but you can also try to go with the 3-1 route where you swap 1 Crushing Hammer with 1 copy of Fan of Waves.
Now, you guys may not agree with me on playing Crushing Hammer because this deck consistency is already not that good. You can try to swap Crushing Hammer with Trekking Shoes so that you can have at least more draw power and you can also discard energy if you happen to draw it while using Trekking Shoes.
Trainers
For searchers, I don’t play a lot of searchers because this deck's objective is to hold onto one Pokemon as long as you can. But still, having only one Pokemon on the board is not good, so I bring 3 copies of Quick Ball and 3 Capture Energy. Some people may cut Quick Ball to 2 copies but in my case, I still use Quick Ball as an easy way to thin my deck while discarding a card that can be an energy card.
Then for survivability, I bring 4 Cape of Toughness to increase the HP of my Pokemon as all of them are basic Pokemon. Hyper Potion is my main healing option because I can just discard Double Turbo Energy to meet its requirement. Last, I play Switch Cart as my second healing option which also serves as my main switching card.
As for supporters, I play 3 copies of Zinnia’s Resolve. I like this card a lot because, in Mew VMAX and Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR matchup, I can get a maximum draw using this card. I also get to discard 2 cards from my hand which can be energy cards. I also play Allister for my second draw option and also discarding option it is a great option because it can discard more than Zinnia’s Resolve yet it allows me to only discard 1 card. Third, I play Avery. I just love this card’s disruption because I can easily disrupt the opponent board with it, especially Mew VMAX. I also play 1 copy of Roxanne because its disruption is just great, especially in the late game. Don't forget Cheren's Care. Its effect allows me to pick up my damaged Blissey V so I can attack with a fresh one. Lastly, I play 3 copies of Boss’s Orders for gusting. This is not a must-use composition because it is very dependent on your playstyle. Some Blissey V decks even play Professor’s Research for a more quick discarding power and a big draw. The choice is yours.
Last but not least, Path to the Peak will be my go-to stadium in this deck. You can try to play Circhester Bath too because it can reduce damage to basic Pokemon but if you play a mirror match or face another basic Pokemon, it can be quite beneficial to the opponent too.
Matchups
Setting up the board is quite easy in this deck because all of the Pokemon here is a Basic Pokemon. You mainly want to at least have 1 Blissey V and 1 Miltank on your bench because both of them can give the opponent quite a hard time. For example, when they play an Escape Rope, if your Miltank is on the bench, your opponent can’t attack you because in this format most of the viable attackers are a Pokemon V (except for Regigigas or Blissey itself). Yes, your opponent can try to attack with Inteleon, but most of the time, I think it will be a desperate measure so they can attack you.
The next thing you want to focus on here is setting up Radiant Greninja. Its ability allows you to pile up energy in the discard pile quickly so you can utilize your attack to the fullest. You also get 2 cards drawn so it may help you if you are in a tight spot. But you need to be aware that Radiant Greninja is a Rule Box Pokemon so Path to the Peak will shut down its ability. In my case, I find that Radiant Greninja is very useful in my early turns because I want to maximize my energy count in the discard pile. I also don’t play too much Path to the Peak in my early game unless I face Mew VMAX because, from the start, that deck is relying on Genesect V. In that case, I won’t be playing Radiant Greninja too often unless I see the chance. Yes, this card is quite opposing itself in this deck. You can try to not play this card if you find it a burden in the deck. You can also try to play another stadium card as I mentioned before such as Circhester Bath.
The main strategy for this deck is you want to pile up energy as much as you can in Blissey V so you can do an OHKO to your opponent. You also want to heal Blissey V because you will be piling a lot of energy. Miltank serves as the wall for your deck because it will fend off Pokemon V’s attack unless they gust your Blissey V on the bench so they can resume attacking.
When facing weakness matchup, because this deck’s main attacker is weak to Fighting-type Pokemon, Dunsparce is brought to the deck. Yes, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX and Lucario VSTAR are still a threat in this format because sometimes they can make a surprise top cut in some local tournaments so you need to beware of them. If you happen to meet them, the first thing you want to do is bring up Miltank. Unless your opponent brings Cancel Cologne, you will be safe and sound while dealing damage with Miltank. But in case you can’t find your Miltank in time, Dunsparce will be your option. You can also try to disrupt your opponent using Crushing Hammer because as far as I know, Fighting-type Pokemon don’t have any straight-to-Pokemon energy recycle option besides Raihan.
However, because this deck is considered a Colorless-type deck, you won’t be hitting any deck for weakness. But because Blissey V’s attack can scale up quickly, hitting them for around 190-280 is still possible.
Then we move on to disruption. Hand disruption in this deck is having a very big impact because as you already see, you don’t have that many drawing options besides your supporter or Lucky Energy. Things can get pretty hard if you get bricked but because Blissey V can still tank your damage for some turns, you may get your draw supporter. The same thing can happen if you prized too much Lucky Energy. It can be very hard for you to dig for any cards and things can get worse if your attached Lucky Energy get disrupted. But as far as I’m playing, I only get bricked in a single or two turns then I can still retaliate although the process may be a bit hard if you don’t play your cards right.
Things are pretty different when you are facing a heavy energy disruption deck. Because Blissey V’s attack relies on how much energy is attached to itself and recycling energy to itself, energy disruption won’t be that scary unless you can’t do significant damage because you are always getting disrupted and don’t have that much energy in the discard pile or attached.
Overall, this deck is very fun to play and Miltank really adds some strength to this deck because you cannot rely on Blissey V all the time to take all the damage. Miltank also prolongs your survival in the game because it is only a single prize Pokemon. The only concern with this deck here is that you may want to find some drawing power or add Pokegear to the deck. My suggestion is that you can play Trekking Shoes but you will be sacrificing your Crushing Hammer. The choice is yours!
Conclusion
Blissey V is sure a fun deck to play with and it is by no means a bad deck. The deck have proven itself in Japan to make it into the Top 16 in big tournaments or even winning in their local shop tournaments. However, I still think that its biggest problem is drawing because if you happen to not have any Lucky Energy attached, you will be having quite a hard time. You can try to tweak the decklist in case you find a more suitable playstyle for you.
Comment down below to share your thoughts!
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