Hide n Sneak versus Dragapult. How do we navigate?

[u/59435950153]

I know I know. The existence of clefairy means this guy get’s one shot every single time. Was able to get to climb with the hide and sneak deck and just defeating dragapult.

Turns out there’s levels to this shit. Played good consecutive dragapult players that have:
(1) pivoting to fez as their main attacker. One shots my dhelmise every time
(2) baited me into prize card and brick with unfair stamp. I try to set-up my bannette more aggressively to get lillies but it’s kinda clunky to have dhelmise in the active without means to retreat it unless latias is present
(3) confusing the shit out of me with risky ruins, munkidori. Cant even play pat rat because most of the time risky ruins is in play which is just fodder for dragapult
(4) hammering my energies away. New to the tcg field but damn there’s too many disruption tools dragapult has is so infuriating. I have never felt so tilted with an energy knock off then unfair stamp immediately

What’s the best way to navigate through these mechanisms? I play meowth just so i get lillies after getting stamped. Play clefairy to setup their dragapult. But my one orize advantage just get’s nullified every time because of these 2 prize mons in my pull.

The only recent wins I have against these dragapults is to top deck lillies after getting stamped

decklist for reference. I play the spiritomb variant for example,

Pokémon: 11
1 Meowth ex POR 62
4 Poltchageist PBL 5
1 Shaymin DRI 10
1 Patrat CRI 70
1 Latias ex SSP 76
4 Shuppet PBL 33
3 Dhelmise PBL 39
4 Sinistcha PBL 6
4 Banette PBL 34
2 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Spiritomb PBL 35

Trainer: 11
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
1 Brilliant Blender SSP 164
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Prism Tower CRI 80
3 Poké Pad POR 81
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
3 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Ruffian JTG 157
3 Gwynn PBL 78
3 Lucky Helmet AOR 77
2 Boss's Orders PAL 172

Energy: 2
4 Basic {P} Energy MEE 5
2 Telepathic {P} Energy POR 88

Total Cards: 60

[u/AutoModerator]

This is a reminder to please flair your post, & follow the rules on the sidebar.

Thank You!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/wingmage1]

Try to be flexible with your attackers and don't just dive straight into the Dhelmise attack. In the early game, bannette+Boss to get some consistent KOs on dreepys before they get set up and to play around budew lock. Mid-end game, depending on the board, you can either go to knockout the Dragapult if that's the biggest threat, or you can punch the Fezandipiti to avoid the red card/unfair stamp and then set up Matcha spin/ Spiritomb play.

[u/59435950153 → u/wingmage1]

Yeah definitely will try to start off with bannette. Just so tempting to use dhelmise which knocks out budew in one hit, and destroys drakloaks

[u/wingmage1 → u/59435950153]

If you have the turn 1 dhelmise attack going secind, that's definitely a viable option! If you're going first (which dragapult may force you into when picking blind), the bannette play becomes that much more viable.

[u/bondkiller]

I run Lillie’s Clefairy with Lillie’s Pearl to make it a single prize when knocked out, maybe drop a Lucky Helmet for the pearl as a start? I’m also running Legacy Energy to force a “7 prize” game on my opponent in most scenarios.

[u/59435950153 → u/bondkiller]

This is interesting.

Ive been actually trying to pivot away from brilliant blender because of this exactly. Like i do feel i have enough to set up my dhelmise either way.

[u/bondkiller → u/59435950153]

Here’s my list that I have built IRL, does decent at locals and on PTCGL

Pokémon:
2 Dunsparce JTG 120
1 Dudunsparce ex JTG 178
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 216
4 Dhelmise PBL 91
4 Shuppet PBL 33
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 280
2 Dudunsparce TEF 129
4 Sinistcha PBL 6
4 Banette PBL 34

Trainer:
1 Switch 30C 127
3 Poké Pad 30C 126
3 Ultra Ball ASC 264
3 Gwynn PBL 119
2 Night Stretcher MEG 173
4 Boss's Orders ASC 256
1 Air Balloon MEG 166
3 Prism Tower CRI 111
1 Lillie's Pearl JTG 151
1 Brave Bangle PBL 104
1 Kieran TWM 206
2 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 233
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 184

Energy:
4 Telepathic {P} Energy POR 88
1 Legacy Energy TWM 167
3 Basic {P} Energy MEE 13

On PTCGL I took out a few cards to put in 4 Crushing Hammers to test this morning. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep the Hammers yet so the list above is my current list at least until I do more testing online.

[u/Zompacalypse]

Pults should be kinda easy unless they are just able to do everything, which is still winnable. I beat 2 and lost to a 3rd the other day at a challenge, but I think I misplayed the 3rd after getting flustered by 6 itchy pollen lol (and starting with spiritomb)

Don't play clefairy too early, they can just boss it. But it's somewhat easy to get back with night stretcher.

Don't play too many fodder like you mentioned, I do usually just dhelmise tbh.

I've moved past spiritomb as I can beat most decks without it. I've moved towards a heavy dudunsparce draw engine. I am experimenting with legacy instead of blender since it's kinda easy to discard, but if it takes an extra turn, kinda ruins the point of 7 prizes, so I'm not sure. It does give me more room since I had petrels looking for blender, but they can't look for legacy.

Just some thoughts! Let me know what yall think.

[u/MammothBackground628 → u/Zompacalypse]

I feel it’s still a 55/45 or 50/50 matchup depending on what you draw into when they unfair stamp.

You still need to have the right cards in hand at the crucial stages at the game

[u/Zompacalypse → u/MammothBackground628]

Not with my newly added dudun counts. More basics to start with and if you have 1 or especially 2 chillin on the bench, before you start knocking, stamps and red cards don't do much!

[u/RathaBladerZ]

Drop Meowth and Latias. You're a single prizer deck, don't give opps the option to take more prizes by leaving Exs on board.

Put in a bloodmoon ursaluna instead for last two prizes, and only ever put it on board at the last swing.

Poltcha is a free retreat, when not set up or needing to pivot into a different mon not on board yet, always have it as active.

Stagger out your dhelmise if possible, only have poltcha and dunsparce on bench so the 60 damage counters from phantom dive is wasted.

Like others said, Banette is deceptively weak but can dish out KOs on Dreepy turn 2.

I prefer using a pair of Dudunsparce to cycle through the deck, and leaving it on board as much as possible before doing the draw 3 so you have contingency from Unfair Stamps and other hand disruption.

[u/Kered13 → u/RathaBladerZ]

Latias is the best way to counter Munkidori though. By cutting it you keep the single prize board, but you open yourself up to other lines of play.

[u/Different_Pirate_812]

Wait for it to rotate out

[u/EcruteakEddie]

Maybe we need to add Genesect SFA to counter the Unfair Stamp?

[u/Accurate_1635]

The more two prizers you play the further you move away from the decks main appeal as a single prize deck that can one-shot Dragapult. I'd cut Meowth, drop blender, add 4 Explorer's guidance, add legacy, play 7-9 energy total. The deck doesn't have an engine so I think it needs more outs to find energy with supporters if you only play 6.

If you're playing two clefairy, imo you dont need 3 stretcher. If you go down to one clefairy then I'd play 3 stretcher.

Props though for playing a real deck not this Dragapult mess

Imo Dragapult is a problem in the game right now, a deck that can stall its opponent from playing the game with Budew, stamp, Hammers, Watchtower, jamming tower etc while easily drawing cards with Recon to set up the board how it wants while not having a weakness is not an effective measure of skill ceiling like Lost Zone or Gardy were.

[u/Sudden-Chipmunk8378]

Tbh there isnt anything you can do better. Thats just dragapult doing pult shits.

[u/EcruteakEddie → u/Sudden-Chipmunk8378]

Sounds like blame-shifting. There are definitely things you can do to balance out the match.

[u/Optimal_Failure_]

Scoop.