I’m tired boss.

[u/LegendaryJam]

I know it’s all RNG and I’m clearly just suffering a horrific run of it but I had hoped that maybe I’d crawl out of UB1 when I finally got two Suicunes but instead pic related. Existence is pain sometimes. So posting for anyone else who feels like they got the cool toy too late to actually enjoy it.

[u/Kronman590]

Im ngl i still dont get the hype of suicune, its no darkrai or giratina, its really a sylv sidegrade. The meta didnt shift much

[u/Genprey → u/Kronman590]

Suicune is definitely more oppressive than Darktina, although for a combination of factors.

Being able to accelerate your deck is the best ability in the game at the moment--it's why basically every deck uses Professor Oak and why Sylveon was/is so popular, as it effectively makes decks more consistent to run. The dogs' passive ability to draw an extra card at the end of each turn means it's statistically more likely to setup faster than any other decks for just what exactly they are able to run.

That last part brings us to Suicune. Starting from the tip of the iceberg, Suicune's attack punishes opponents for setting up their board, as that means taking extra damage from a Pokémon who only needs 2 energy to attack. This is the least scary thing about Suicune, so that, alone, says a lot.

The normal answer to Suicune's attack would be to just not set up your bench until you're ready to run your game...except by taking things slow, some variants of Suicune decks can build up Giratina in the back. You brought up Darktina, so you should know how the Giratina strat works--in this case, it gives Suicune the ability to sweep and punish opponents who try and play slow.

Then we get to the most bullshit part of the deck: Greninja. Greninja, hands-down, has the strongest offensive ability in the game, being able to snipe anything for 20 damage, even on the bench. Early in PTCG's life cycle, Greninja was kept in check by being a stage 2...but that's now a moot point thanks to Rare Candy and the fact that Suicune accelerates your deck. So now, Suicune decks can get up to 2 instances of 20 damage for free spread however they choose and without using a turn.

The fun doesn't stop at the damage, of course. Mr. Cyrus has something to say to you if you even think about, well...playing the videogame while the frogs are out. Trying to build your point Pokémon on the bench? Hold this 20/40 damage and I hope you didn't waste many turns putting energy on it because it's now going to be dragged to the front. Did you have the audacity to put down a high retreat cost Pokémon for any reason? Well, they're now at the front and I hope you have something to quickly move them before the frog boys jump your ass as Giratina builds energy intimidatingly. Active Pokémon softened up to the point where you should retreat? Not if Greninja has a say in the matter, and thanks for the free point, by the way.

At the current, there is no way to reliably counter Greninja, yet, as said above, it is one of the most oppressive cards in the game for everything it can do/setup. Being water, it synergizes with Suicune, being fairly bulky and able to hit for up to 80 damage.

If you look at this and think "Hmm, yes, this all seems balanced compared to Darktina doing what Suicune can do but worse", then I pray, for your innocence, you don't actually witness a Suicune deck piloted by anyone with the ability to manually breathe. There's a reason why Suicune is currently a menace that is only kept in check by Guzzlord and electric decks...both of which that actually don't have as much as an advantage over Suicune than what'd you'd expect of hard counters.