Crabs Crack NAIC Top 8! - Klawf Deck Profile

My student Ezra piloted Lost #klawf to a Top 8 finish in the Juniors Division of the 2024 North American International Championships!
Here's his story, and the profile of his deck!
We started from a build by @JamesCTCG from this video: • I Solved Klawf
With lots of practice and testing, we eventually landed on the list shown in this video.
The decklist is below:
Pokémon: 7
3 Bibarel BRS 121
1 Radiant Hisuian Sneasler LOR 123
3 Cramorant LOR 50 PH
3 Brute Bonnet PAR 123
3 Klawf PAR 105 PH
1 Bidoof CRZ 111
2 Bidoof BRS 120
Trainer: 17
3 Switch SVI 194
4 Ultra Ball PAF 91
4 Ancient Booster Energy Capsule TEF 140
1 Kieran TWM 154
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
4 Lost Vacuum CRZ 135
2 Artazon PAF 76
2 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Technical Machine: Crisis Punch PAF 90
3 Iono PAF 80
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
4 Colress's Experiment LOR 155
4 Nest Ball PAF 84
1 Enhanced Hammer PHF 94
2 Boss's Orders PAL 172
1 Arven SVI 166
Energy: 1
4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
Total Cards: 60

[@IgnitorTCG]

BEEN LOOKING FOR ERZA'S LIST FOR SO LONG THANK YOUUU

[@HoopaHideout]

You're welcome!

[@brian.webster]

Same here

[@L3thalShad0ws7]

Definitely gonna give this a try. Played a bit of James Cox’s list at the beginning of rotation and liked it a lot, but then completely forgot about it. Thanks for sharing!

[@HoopaHideout]

Sure thing! Glad to hear we inspired you!

[@brian.webster]

Great vid, thanks!

[@HoopaHideout]

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Powner22111995]

I played non-stop with Klawf since its release, and my take on the best version of the deckis currently the same version, but with a few changes. Would choose Maximum Belt over Prime Catcher, since you can OHKO Chien Pao, Ogrepon, Raging Bolt ... without needing to use Kieran (or Grant).

[@HoopaHideout]

We tried Max Belt for a while, that was part of our attempts to keep Electrode working. Will definitely test some more with it in there.

[@FrightFur]

I have 2 questions, would you potentially consider 1 Miriam > A Super Rod? I would probably still want a copy of super rod because it's just a faster card but I'm wondering if Klawf could benefit from a slower pokemon recovery card or if that slower card is just way too slow. Also would you consider Hassel in the deck?

[@HoopaHideout]

I think both of these ideas are worth trying. The draw from Miriam might be enough to offset it being a supporter, and Hassel might dig deep enough to be worthwhile. To decide for sure, I'd put them in for a couple dozen games and each time they came up, is make a note as to whether I wanted the new card or the old one.

[@brian.webster]

Please report back with what you try, I'm curious

[@HoopaHideout]

@brian.webster Will do. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with multiple additional Klawf videos between now and Worlds.

[@FrightFur]

​@@HoopaHideout Hassel is a straight upgrade to pokegears. Card's insane. It seems like it's just extra copies of Colress except Colress is just a bit better at thinning. Unsure if I would want to go -1 Iono for a Hassel. My gut tells me to go -1 arven +1 hassel but my brain tells me this probably would not be a good idea. I would never go back to pokegear but I also HATE pokegear. Miriam is probably good but I think I need a lot more games to properly evaluate it. I have a couple more questions when it comes to playing the deck - How do you sequence Bibarel and Colress? I imagine one is using Bib first before Colress in most situations? - When it comes to Ace Specs, can you provide a bit more detail on why we don't play cards like Unfair Stamp or the box? Prime Catcher probably is just BIS, but I'm curious as to the reasoning for not including the other cards. The box in particular seems like it gets a lot of things that this deck likes. - This is probably a video in of itself but I would be very interested in a tournament report. I'm very curious as to what Ezra had to play against to make it all the way to top 8. This is a very cool deck. Before this, my main 1 prizer deck I was probably going to play for this format was Ancient Box but considering some complaints I have with Ancient Box (very supporter and rad ninja reliant, some hands just don't really function, a lot of these ancient cards I am only putting in the deck because they're ancient cards and they might as well just be textless. Pokestop and Shoes engine is fun tho) and Klawf just seems like it has a lot more going for it than Ancient Box (Bibarel Engine, I can play actual supporters, 4 Vac, Better typing).

[@HoopaHideout]

@@FrightFur I'm glad you're enjoying the deck idea! It really is it's own thing! Bare in mind that at least half the reason we play Colress is to push for 4 in the Lost Zone T1 so that Cram can be our first-turn attacker when applicable. As far as Ace Specs, if we played anything else, we would definitely need to add more gust. There are already a lot of matchups which leave us wishing we had more, so reducing it would hurt. Secret Box as an alternative doesn't sound very good to me. It feels too costly, and often I think the cards you discard would end up including several of the cards the Box searches for. Unfair Stamp could be good if we overcome our need for gust in other ways. So far, it hasn't risen to the point that the trade off seems worthwhile, but we'll continue testing it between now and worlds, for sure.

[@craballeristhegoat]

Do you think a cobalion could be useful if so what should I take out for it?

[@HoopaHideout]

The list Ezra played only had one boss, and played Cobalion instead. I do not think Cobalion is worth the space, but I could see reasons for playing a Grant instead, and/or a defiance belt.

[@craballeristhegoat]

@@HoopaHideout thank you I might play a defiance belt