Conductivity (TCG)
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Conductivity is a Pokémon Trading Card Game deck archetype based around Dark Ampharos's Pokémon Power of the same name. It focuses on keeping the opponent's Pokémon low on Energy and punishing them for playing Energy cards from their hand.
History
The idea for a deck based around the theme of controlling the opponent's Energy attachments was one of the first original deck archetypes created. With the release of Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal in the Base Set, many players began to wonder if a deck based around denying the opponent Energy attachment would be competitive. This strategy gained some ground with the release of Blaine's Charmander in the Gym Heroes expansion. Finally, the Pokémon company gave the archetype some recognition in the form of the Fire Extinguisher decklist and summary in the Gym Heroes Strategy Guide. With the release of the Neo Destiny expansion in 2002, there was a strong enough Pokémon to serve as the platform for the rest of the deck, while still fitting in with the theme: Dark Ampharos.
Strategy
The deck is based around Dark Ampharos's Conductivity Pokémon Power, which deals 10 damage to an opponent's Pokémon each time an Energy is attached to it. Then, the rest of the deck acts quickly to discard the Energy, thus damaging the opponent's Pokémon and denying them Energy at the same time. The ideal starter is Cleffa, which can stall and provide hand support at the same time, which is a lethal combination to get Dark Ampharos onto the field as quickly and painlessly as possible. From that point, Dark Ampharos can sit on the bench dealing minor damage while Blaine's Charmander's Kindle attack discards whatever Energy the opponent dares to attach in the first place. Other cards like Energy Removal can also discard Energy, and Item Finder ensures that those cards can be used more than once.
Cards
Key cards
- Dark Ampharos, as described before, utilizes its Conductivity Pokémon Power to punish the opponent for attaching whatever Energy they can to their Pokémon. It is the main source of damage-infliction for the deck, as it can deal decent damage as an attacker, further boosted by any Darkness Energies attached to it.
- Slowking denies the opponent opportunities to negate Dark Ampharos's Pokémon Power or attach extra energies to their Pokémon through Trainer Cards.
- Energy Removal discards Energies from opposing Pokémon, greatly limiting whatever attacking opportunities they have and diminishing their chances of winning the game.
Other Pokémon
- Cleffa refreshes a player's hand, giving them card advantage and more opportunities.
- Blaine's Charmander is a stalling option to discard energies while the player is building up Dark Ampharos on their bench.
Other Trainers
- Professor Oak is a slightly worse alternative to Cleffa that doesn't use up the player's attack for the turn.
- Computer Search searches any card from the deck, which is useful for obvious reasons.
- Item Finder returns any Trainer card from the discard pile to the player's hand, at a cost. This allows cards like Energy Removal to be re-played.
- Warp Point retreats the player's Active Pokémon in a pinch, or swaps out the opponent's Active Pokémon.
- Super Energy Removal is a better alternative to Energy Removal, but the player must also discard an Energy from one of their own Pokémon.
- Gust of Wind allows even more control of the opponent's game plan, shutting down their options beyond hand control.
- Bill is a simple drawing card, used in most decks to move toward card advantage.
- Pokémon Breeder lets a player skip an evolution, for instance evolving Mareep directly into Dark Ampharos, while normally Dark Flaaffy would be in the middle. This is good in that it speeds up the evolution process, reducing the turns required by one.
- Pokémon Trader lets a player swap a Pokémon in their hand with one from their deck, which is helpful in getting Dark Ampharos onto the field as soon as possible.
Energy cards
- Darkness Energy allows Dark Ampharos to do more damage when attacking.
- Full Heal Energy ensures that Dark Ampharos will not be affected by a special condition and have Conductivity negated.
Typical deck list
The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.
| Quantity | Card | Type | Rarity |
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| 3× | Dark Ampharos | 
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| 2× | Dark Flaaffy |
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| 3× | Mareep |
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| 3× | Slowking | 
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| 3× | Slowpoke |
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| 3× | Cleffa | 
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| 2× | Blaine's Charmander | 
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| 4× | Energy Removal | T |
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| 3× | Computer Search | T |
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| 3× | Item Finder | T |
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| 3× | Bill | T |
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| 3× | Pokémon Trader | T |
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| 2× | Pokémon Breeder | T |
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| 2× | Professor Oak | T |
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| 2× | Warp Point | T |
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| 2× | Super Energy Removal | T |
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| 1× | Gust of Wind | T |
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| 4× | Full Heal Energy |  E
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| 2× | Darkness Energy |  E
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| 7× | Lightning Energy |  E
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| 3× | Fire Energy |  E
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Restriction
Since all the expansions represented in Conductivity have been rotated out of Modified format, this exact deck has been rendered unplayable. Variations on the theme of Energy denial remain incorporated into today's game, though, in the form of cards such as Crushing Hammer and Lost Remover.
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This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. |
