Plasma(TDK) (TCG)

Plasma(TDK)
Thundurus-EX and Kyurem Types used Major cards Thundurus-EX, Deoxys-EX, Kyurem and Colress Machine Era 2012-2014

TDK was a Pokémon Trading Card Game deck archetype mainly played during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons. The deck's strategy was to attack with the Team Plasma Pokémon Thundurus-EX, Kyurem while multiple Deoxys-EX increased the attack of these Pokémon. With a constant attendance during the seasons, TDK took 2nd place in the Master and Junior Divisions and 1st place in Seniors at the 2013 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships and 1st place in the Junior Division at the 2014 World Championships. 2013 Junior Runner-up Yugo Sato and 2014 Juniors Champion Haruto Kobayashi's versions were printed as promotional World Championships decks, Ultimate Team Plasma and Plasma Power.

Strategy

Deoxys-EX

TDK focused on quickly charging Benched Kyurem by using Thundurus-EX's Raiden Knuckle attack and discarding energies with Items such as Ultra Ball. Deoxys-EX's Power Connect Ability boosted the power of other Team Plasma Pokémon with a stackable effect, with four benched Deoxys-EX increasing Raiden Knuckle's damage to 70 damage and Kyurem's Blizzard Burn to 160 damage (without other modifiers). Finishing off Pokémon damaged from Thundurus-EX with Kyurem, a non-EX Pokémon, was the deck's common gameplan. The versatility of Pokémon types and dealing moderate damage in the first turn were helpful to compete against other decks in the format.

The deck would mainly play special energies, especially Plasma Energy and Prism Energy. Colress Machine was a valuable resource for the deck, since it sped up the energy attachment for all Plasma Pokémon and allowed Kyurem's Frost Spear and Deoxys-EX's Helix Force to be used when more useful than Thundurus-EX (or when these Pokémon could not retreat). Different techs could be included in TDK lists, such as other Team Plasma Pokémon, switching and healing Item cards.

Key cards

Colress Machine

• Thundurus-EX - Thundurus-EX's Raiden Knuckle attack dealt damage while allowing to attach any energy from the discard pile to a benched Team Plasma Pokémon. This was commonly used to charge up Kyurem. Could rarely use Thunderous Noise to knock out certain Pokémon.
• Kyurem - Kyurem's Frost Spear and Blizzard Burn were decent attacks that benefited from the deck's energy acceleration while being a single-prize attacker. When not knocked out after using Blizzard Burn, Kyurem could be switched out with an Item card to be able to use that attack again.
• Deoxys-EX - Deoxys-EX's Power Connect Ability enhanced the damage of other Team Plasma Pokémon. Had a better role as a benched Pokémon, but could also use its Helix Force attack when preferred.
• Colress Machine - Plasma Energy could be attached from the deck to Team Plasma Pokémon thanks to Colress Machine, allowing for attaching more than one Energy card per turn.
• Muscle Band - Post-XY, Muscle Band was the most optimal Tool card for this deck, enhancing the Pokémon's damage by 20.
• Hypnotoxic Laser - The additional damage counters from Poison helped the math to knock out opposing Pokémon.
• Float Stone - Free Retreat cost for Deoxys-EX and Kyurem, which could end in the Active spot at the first turn.

Typical decklist

Yugo Sato's decklist at the 2013 World Championship

Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
2×	Thundurus
4×	Deoxys
4×	Kyurem
3×	Colress Machine	I
1×	Computer Search	I
4×	Hypnotoxic Laser	I
1×	Ultra Ball	I
1×	Energy Search	I
4×	Pokémon Catcher	I
3×	Switch	I
2×	Team Plasma Ball	I
2×	Float Stone	I
2×	Virbank City Gym	St
2×	Colress	Su
4×	N	Su
1×	Bianca	Su
4×	Professor Juniper	Su
3×	Skyla	Su
2×	Lightning Energy	E
3×	Water Energy	E
4×	Prism Energy	E
4×	Plasma Energy	E

Haruto Kobayashi's decklist at the 2014 World Championship

Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
4×	Deoxys
3×	Kyurem
2×	Latias
2×	Thundurus
3×	Colress Machine	I
2×	Hypnotoxic Laser	I
1×	Max Potion	I
1×	Scramble Switch	I
1×	Startling Megaphone	I
3×	Switch	I
2×	Team Plasma Ball	I
2×	Ultra Ball	I
4×	Muscle Band	I
1×	Tropical Beach	St	—
1×	Virbank City Gym	St
2×	Colress	Su
2×	Lysandre	Su
4×	N	Su
4×	Professor Sycamore	Su
3×	Skyla	Su
1×	Blend Energy WLFM	E
4×	Plasma Energy	E
4×	Prism Energy	E
4×	Rainbow Energy	E

Possible tech cards

Max Potion

The following cards are often used in TDK in place of certain cards included in the above lists.

• Lugia-EX and Absol - Secondary attackers that benefitted from the Plasma Eenrgy/Colress Machine engine.
• Latias-EX - Latias-EX's Bright Down Ability prevented it from being damaged by Pokémon with abilities, while its Barrier Break attack ignored effects on the defending Pokémon.
• Max Potion - Healed damage preferably from Thundurus-EX. Since this attacker could reattach energies from the discard pile with one enregy, Max Potion's drawback was often not harmful.
• Scramble Switch - Moved energies from the Active Pokémon that could lead to big advantages at key moments and prevent the Active Pokémon from being knocked out.

This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.