Which Hoopa EX Deck Should I Play?

Out of the many incredible Pokemon we received in Ruler of The Skies, Hoopa EX is shaping up to be the biggest contender for this season. Even in the midst of Vespiquen EX, Hoopa has continued to rise in popularity and in top cuts in several tournaments this past week. Our weekly tournament is no exception - six out of the top eight players were piloting a version of Hoopa, with a combined total of over 15% of the meta share for day two - rivaling Mega Lucario’s equally significant presence.

There were three archetypes within top eight, each boasting a different play style. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the star player in these decks and examine the ways we can build around it.

Hoopa EX

Hoopa EX has three things going for it: it’s a basic, it has 150 HP, and it has a strong, one-energy attack. The large health pool lets you sit in the active without fearing an immediate K.O. Its second attack - Dynamite Punch - could get you a knockout if you’re in a desperate situation, however that’s nowhere near as good as Shadow Bullet, dealing 30 damage to the active and 20 to a Pokemon on the bench. This creates both an aggressive line of play, as well as enabling control with Cyrus, which all but one of the top eight Hoopas ran a full playset of. This 30/20 split is probably the best unassisted split damage in the game, with the ability to take out baby Pokemon and soften up a basic for a single energy on your first energy attach. Deceptive Needle only makes this card better, hitting whatever happens to be in the active at the end of your turn. This makes Hoopa the ideal “setup” Pokemon for dark, as the rest of your energy can go to the “payoff” ‘mon to close out the game.

Hoopa’s two retreat makes it difficult to move out of the active. None of the top decks played Bombirdier, opting to instead include a single Small Balloon or X Speed.

Vespiquen EX is Hoopa’s greatest threat - the busy bee can hit Hoopa for weakness, taking it out with a single attack. Data from this past weekend shows that no Hoopa variant did well against Vespi, with one variant even going so low as a 25% win rate against the grass deck.

Another defense against this card unexpectedly appeared this weekend to Hoopa’s detriment - Bonsly. Bonsly’s -30 damage reduction affects both Hoopa’s main attack damage and the 20 damage ping to the bench. This secured ppitopin8 first place against the sea of Hoopa’s we saw this past weekend.

Dark Greninja

This archetype was the first one to arrive on the scene with RotS, which makes sense; Dark Greninja was already a strong archetype, and adding Greninja to anything makes it more playable. What is fascinating about this variant is what it replaced - Chingling. Basics and Stage 1s are played more than any stage 2 line currently, making Chingling less effective against decks that don’t run Rare Candies. Vespiquen doesn’t even run Pokeball, opting for Fragrant Forest instead. Instead, Hoopa EX makes this archetype shine with the combined bench snipe from Greninja. While Toxology’s deck only runs a single Cyrus, Eisen’s fifth place build goes all in for more control. In addition, Greninja’s ability with Deceptive Needle takes down that pesky Bonsly.

The matchup data suggests that Dark Greninja has a 54% win rate, though its worst matchups - the straight dark deck below and the previously mentioned Vespiquen - have a dismal 25% win rate each. Greninja is a boon and a bane; it helps control the battlefield but also takes up six slots in your deck. This can lead to bad starts or tighter decks with no room for variance.

Dark Good Stuff

Hoopa with Deceptive Needle has enabled a pure dark archetype that would normally make room for a Poison Barb and Nihilego. Instead, this compact package lets you keep a tight list of basic, powerful Pokemon with 15-16 available slots for trainer cards. All of these decks run Mega Absol EX and Darkrai EX, giving you the ability to increase damage output and control the end game. Unlike the Greninja variant, these lists had at least one Lucky Ice Pop and one Starting Plains, increasing the longevity of your starting Hoopa. Field Blower and Repel also made their way into this variant, with Repel being a great tool against other Hoopa decks, Gouging Fire with Mega Rayquaza, and Vespiquens who hide behind a Shuckle EX.

This shows with an impressive 55.5% win rate for the tournament, with incredible matchups into other top performing decks - something necessary in top cut. Its worst matchup, however, stole the show. All three of the Dark Good Stuff decks in top eight were taken out by Mega Lucario, which gave it a 39% win rate against. It also struggled against Magnezone/Miraidon and Vespiquen, though out of these two rivals only one Miraidon deck was faced on day 2 with a victory for third place’s Pdon. This was the only player to run a single Indeedee EX in the list.

Hoopa Sabeleye

though it’s not much different from the above lists, Meijyi’s 6th place build swaps out the single Mega Absol for a Mega Sableye. Doing so enabled a more aggressive variant to this pure dark archetype, requiring special attention. Out of six players int he tournament running this, only Meijyi made it to top cut. However, the deck does boast an impressive 54% win rate overall.

Its greatest weakness was against other Hoopa decks - Meijyi’s only losses were against two of the other top eight players the entire weekend. However, the player only faced a single Lucario to a tie and did not see a grass deck all weekend.

Conclusion

Hoopa Ex is a card with a low floor but high ceiling - great players can overcome much with both skill and well-timed inclusions. Whether you choose the Greninja route or one of the pure dark archetypes, the biggest piece of advice I could offer is to take your time with the deck. This is not a passive style of play; thinking on your feet and choosing the right tech cards will give you the upper hand in the next PMPT!