Table of Contents
Hello, I'm Clyde, and today we're reviewing one of the hot new cards from the Space-Time Smackdown expansion: A2-092. This card has an insane ability called Fighting Coach, which gives your Fighting Pokémon +20 damage to the opponent's Active Pokémon. Please note that this only applies to Active Pokémon, so unfortunately, it doesn't work with A1-154.
| Pros | Cons |
| + Allows you to hit certain HP thresholds, enabling you to reach damage levels that wouldn't be available otherwise. | - A2-092's retreat cost is 2. If you start with A2-091 and have to evolve into A2-092, you should have a retreat cost reducer to add another energy to one of your hitters. |
| - Another downside of A2-092 right now is that the current meta involves sitting on the bench with your hitters while they hide behind tanks, most notably A1a-056. This makes it hard to take advantage of A2-092's ability without taking a lot of damage in return. |
Which Basics to Choose?
Since the decks I will be featuring have different ratio for their basics most importantly these 3, I will be discussing them more in-depth.
- A1-155 is the first go-to for A2-092 because it is a basic Fighting Pokémon that can take advantage of +20, making it deal 50 damage. This allows it to 2-hit A1a-056 or 3-hit a 150 HP Pokémon. You usually include at least one A1-155 in any A2-092 list. It is also the ideal starting basic since we want to protect A2-091 and don’t want to start with A1a-047 if we run it.
- A1-154 - is a little hard to justify in a A2-092 list because it doesn’t work with A2-092's ability. One of A1-154's main roles now is to damage the bench and then pull it out with A2-150 to finish it off with one of your other Pokémon. However, since the Pokémon is already damaged, A2-092's ability may be overkill and sometimes not needed at all. It is still a good tech to run due to the stall meta, but then again, why are we even running A2-092? Due to the A1-154 A2-150 playstyle being more effective, this is one of the reasons why A2-092 may not be a good card to run right now.
- A1a-047 - is harder to include in a A2-092 list due to the limited number of basic Pokémon we can use, especially since we already have A2-091. Typically, you don't want to start with A2-091 because you want to maintain A2-092's ability as much as possible, which makes it a bit awkward because we’ll be having a lot of basics we don’t want to start with. Additionally, it's harder to justify A1a-047 in a A2-092 list because A2-092 already addresses the damage issues that A1a-047 used to provide.
General Strategy
We’re featuring an A1a-046 deck with A2-092. A2-092's ability helps A1a-046 deal 100 damage, letting you one-shot A1a-056. We’re running A1-155 as a basic starter to weaken the enemies a bit while waiting for A1a-047 or A1a-046. There will be times where you will load energy for A1a-046 if you have PROMO-002 already. We’re running A1a-047 in this deck because the deck doesn’t have too much damage, so you will still need to 2-hit most big enemies. While other lists would run A1a-068, I prefer running PROMO-002 since sometimes you want to go straight into A1a-046, so at least you can retreat while using another Supporter like PROMO-007. A2-147 is to help protect A1a-046 since its 140 HP can be vulnerable to a lot of big hitters. The good thing about this deck is A1a-046's ability will make it difficult for your opponent to evolve, especially if you knock out their tank like A1a-056. With the help of A2-150 and A1-225, the strategy becomes even more effective. As I mentioned, the deck does lack some damage even with A2-092's help. However, due to A1a-046's ability, their Active Pokémon will most of the time be small. Note that A1a-046 is an EX card, so if you lose it, you can't afford another knockout, so sometimes using A1a-046 last might be better.
The next deck is a A2-089 A2-092 hybrid.
This might be the best deck out of the three due to A2-089 being able to take down most Pokémon with its high damage, especially with the help of A2-092's ability. We don't run A1a-047 here since A2-089 can take out anything, so we have A1-155s instead. Running one A1-154 in place of one A1-155 can also work for more flexibility. We're running two A2-146 because A2-089 is a Stage 2 Pokémon, and we tend to rely on getting it online as soon as possible; otherwise, we won't have enough hitters.
I think the most important thing about the deck is that even if A2-089 takes down A1a-056, its self-inflicted and recoil damage will reduce its HP to 80, making it vulnerable. Because of this, I think ditching A2-092 for A1a-047s is the best option and focusing on a A1-154 A2-150 playstyle while letting A2-089 finish them off.
The final list is a A2-095 A2-092 list.
A2-095 has the potential for high damage from its attack and paired with A2-092 lets you finish most Pokémon and also gives you a 170 HP tank to absorb some attacks.
We're running the new A2-068 so that we can hide it to evolve into A2-095 for later on, and also running the new A2-069 so that we can attack just in case with its 1 colorless energy. Do note that they are still psychic so they won't take advantage of A2-092. Then we are running the A1-154 A2-150 combo here, which is why there's only 1 A1-154. The only reason why there's just one is to make A2-146 more consistent. A1-154 is used to bypass A1a-056 since A2-095 doesn't align well with A1a-056 so we go straight to the back with the help of A2-150. We are running 2 PROMO-002 since most of the time you will just put A2-095 in the Active as soon as you can. You would also notice that 5 Pokémon in this list don't benefit from A2-092, which is kind of a waste. That's why I believe the best version of this list might not include A2-092 and makes the deck even more consistent, which is kind of sad if you ask me, since A2-092 is cool and all.
I hope this guide has been helpful so has Lucario been good for you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
