2007 World Championships Deck Overview: Akira Miyazaki

By Michael Martin

Want to learn how to compete with the best? Then a 2007 Pokémon TCG World Championships deck is perfect for you. There are four powerful decks to choose from, and they are all available now! This overview reveals the secrets of Akira Miyazaki, 2007 Senior Division Finalist.

Even though Akira Miyazaki is only 12 years old, he has been playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game for almost as long as it has been around! His extensive experience helped guide him to 2nd place at the 2007 Pokémon TCG World Championships. While most of the players in the tournament used a variety of Pokémon in their decks to accomplish various tasks, Akira focused his deck on only one Pokémon evolution chain—and it paid off.

In the Empoleon (Diamond & Pearl, 4/130) evolution chain, every Stage is capable of making a strong contribution. Let’s start with the Basic Pokémon, Piplup (Diamond & Pearl, 93/130), which has a healthy 60 Hit Points. This means you don’t have to worry about it being Knocked Out on the first or second turn, which gives you time to implement the strategy of your deck. Piplup also has an attack that does 10 damage for no Energy at all! While 10 damage might not seem like a lot, against a Water-weak Pokémon like Infernape (Diamond & Pearl, 5/130), it will do 40 damage instead.

For some Pokémon, the middle Stage is just a stepping stone from the Basic Stage to the powerful Stage 2. But Prinplup (Diamond & Pearl, 58/130) has some attractive attacks that make it a force to be reckoned with. Prinplup’s Aqua Shower attack will do 10 damage to each and every one of your opponent’s Pokémon in play. That’s a potential 60 total damage for only 1 Energy! Its second attack, Brine, allows it to do 40 damage to one of your opponent’s Pokémon, as long as your opponent’s Pokémon already has at least one damage counter on it. This ability to spread damage around and target a Pokémon anywhere means that your opponent can’t hide damaged or weak Pokémon on the Bench. Nowhere is safe!

Once your opponent has been softened up by Prinplup, Empoleon gets to seal the deal. It can continue doing 40 damage to any Pokémon with its Ice Blade attack, or for 3 Energy its Aqua Jet attack can inflict a healthy 70 damage to the Defending Pokémon and a possible 20 damage to a Benched Pokémon. With its 130 Hit Points, Empoleon can take a lot punishment before it’s Knocked Out. And by then, the next Empoleon is powered up and ready to go!

There is only one other Pokémon in Akira’s deck— Corsola (EX Unseen Forces, 37/115). Its main function is to get the Empoleon evolution chain into play as quickly as possible. Corsola’s Cry for Help attack lets you search the deck for a Water- or Fighting-type Pokémon and put it into your hand. That’s an amazing ability. If there is no need to get more Pokémon out of the deck, Corsola’s Double Attack can also do damage to the Bench, fitting right in with the theme of the deck.

With so few Pokémon, Akira has plenty of room for Trainer, Supporter, Stadium, and Special Energy cards. Aside from the normal mix of cards used for searching and drawing, he has a few cards in his deck with special functions. Akira’s Pokémon have no Poké-Powers or Poké-Bodies, so he has four copies of the Stadium card Cursed Stone (EX Legend Maker, 72/92) to put 1 damage counter on every one of his opponent’s Pokémon that has a Poké-Power. His deck also includes four Cessation Crystal (EX Crystal Guardians, 74/100) cards that keep Pokémon from being able to use Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies.

Finally, there’s one more card in the deck that merits special attention. Akira has three copies of Scramble Energy (EX Dragon Frontiers, 89/101), which provides 3 Energy of any color as long as you have more Prize cards left than your opponent. By having Scramble Energy available, you can keep Prinplup out front and spread damage around without worrying about your opponent knocking it out. As soon as Prinplup does get Knocked Out, you can bring up Empoleon, drop a Scramble Energy onto it, and be fully powered all in one shot!

This deck is an excellent example of squeezing the maximum potential out of a Pokémon and taking it as far as it can go. Pick it up and experience the power of Empoleon for yourself!