Scizor/Cherrim (TCG)

Scizor/Cherrim was a in the Pokémon Trading Card Game that centered around and , both from the expansion. The deck was regarded as one of the best decks of the era for newer Pokémon Trading Card Game players because of its simple strategy and inexpensiveness. Although it won only a handful of tournaments, Scizor/Cherrim variants were a part of organized play all the way from Stormfront's release until its eventual rotation in 2010. Most builds ran a small Pokémon line to allow more room for and s. Because of this, it was easily countered by decks such as and which could impose a Trainer lock.
==Strategy==
As mentioned above, Scizor/Cherrim employed an extremely basic strategy. The deck attempted to get many and as quickly as possible, with and potentially attached to the former. One of Scizor/Cherrim's downsides was that, unlike many decks of the day, it could not rely on s such as 's Set Up. As such, its speed was dependent completely on Trainer and Supporter cards. was an exception, since its Retire Poké-Power forced the player to discard Unown R after use, meaning it did not affect Scizor's damage output.
Scizor/Cherrim compensated for this handicap by utilizing a strong Trainer and Supporter . Cards such as , , , and helped the deck set up quickly. As the deck could not do as much damage as many other archetypes of the day, and did not have the disruption of a deck such as , speed was its most essential aspect. The deck aimed to have a Scizor ready to attack by turn two, at which point it attempted to take six prizes as quickly as possible so as not to prolong the game. Rather than keeping its main attacker alive, as and certain other decks did, an aggressive Scizor/Cherrim build sacrificed sturdiness for speed and power. and provided a means of recovery.
==Key Cards==
* - Scizor was the deck's main attacker. For , Scizor's Pound Down attack did 70 damage if the player had no Pokémon with s in play. Factoring in the effects of Cherrim's Sunny Day and , Pound Down could hit for significant damage. Scizor's Accelerate attack, which cost , did a mediocre 30 damage. However, it was useful in that, if it knocked out the Defending Pokémon, it prevented all damage done to Scizor during the opponent's next turn. Scizor also had a Poké-Body called Honeycomb Defender, which decreased damage done to it by 40 when Scizor already had six or more damage counters on it. Combined with Scizor's already decent 100 HP and Expert Belt, which increased Scizor's HP to 120, Honeycomb Defender made it difficult to knock Scizor out.
* - Cherrim was the deck's primary support Pokémon. Its Sunny Day Poké-Body increased the damage dealt by the player's Pokémon by 10. Sunny Day Bodies could be stacked, meaning a Pound Down with four Cherrim in play did 110 damage without Expert Belt. Cherrim also made a decent attacker in a pinch, with Salty-Sweet Pollen doing at least 20 damage for no energy cost. The attack also removed two damage counters from one of the Scizor/Cherrim player's Pokémon.
* - Bebe's Search allowed Scizor/Cherrim to set up faster by searching out a Pokémon from the deck.
* - Scizor/Cherrim relied on energies to attack. As such, Roseanne's Research was a versatile card that could be used to either grab the necessary energies to attack or search out Basic Pokémon from the deck.
* - Scizor/Cherrim relied completely on Stage 1 evolution cards, and Broken Time-Space provided a means to get them out quickly. Instead of waiting a turn to evolve, this permitted players to evolve their Pokémon immediately.
==Typical Decklist==
==Possible Tech Cards==
* - Unown G prevents Scizor/Cherrim's Pokémon from being affected by the attacks of certain main archetypes of the day, such as 's Shadow Room attack and 's Take Out attack, from the and archetypes, respectively.
* - This card was a plausible alternative to Poké Drawer +. Although Poké Drawer + provided a stronger effect when two were played together, Pokédex could be played immediately and without reservation. Players who played Pokédex over Poké Drawer + essentially sacrificed power for consistency.
* - Although Victory Medal was relatively difficult to obtain (it was available only to winners of Battle Road tournaments), it was another alternative to Poké Drawer +.
Category:Deck archetypes