Discussion Abusing Dustox & Giant plant forest

Draaka

Draaka

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hey guys I was wondering if you could help me come up with a fun rogue/semi competitive deck list that uses Dustox (ancient trait) and Giant plant forest, some good partners for it I think are Ariodos is a fairly viable partner, and it's such a shame the new eeveelutions couldn't be partnered with Dustox, but thems the breaks. Maybe even Pyroar (flare command aka lysandroar).

It's just a silly idea I had, wondered if it could become semi viable. Maybe with bats or something that blocks them retreating.

Standard preferred but if you want to bring extended into the conversation feel free. ^_^

What you got Pokébeach?
 
A few thoughts (in no particular order) to consider:
  • Training Center may be a good Stadium option; in so doing, your Dustox (ROS 8) would get an extra 30 HP boost. This may prove more helpful since this Stadium increases Dustox' "survivability" which you will need since Wind Shard only inflicts 50 damage.
  • Dustox's main attack only inflicts damage on an opponent's benched Poké. So, a game strategy could be to Lysandre an opponent's heavy Retreat Cost'ing Poké to the active position, poison it (with Ariados), remove energy from it, use your Dragalge to keep it locked in the active position, and use that poisoned opponent's Poke as a "shield" you can hit around with your Dustox.
  • Miltank (FLF 83), a 100 HP Basic Poké, has an attack (for C energy cost) can inflict 80 damage if you have a Stage 2 Poké (Dustox in this case) benched. So, a game strategy could be to use Miltank to lead the attacks early game while you setup, and then us Dustox as mentioned above attacking your opponent's wounded Poké. This seems to be a great partner that can inflict significant damage (for minimum energy cost) to setup opponent's Poké for Dustox' Δ Plus attacks.
A skeleton Poké list may consist of:

4 Miltank
3 Dustox (ROS 8)
3 Cascoon (needed should you decide to utilize Giant Plant Forest)
4 Wurmple
2 Ariados
2 Spinarak
2 Dragalge
2 Skrelp

I'd also recommend:

1 Pokémon Fan Club
3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
4 Training Center (more important than Giant Plant Forest, imo)

I hope you find these comments helpful.
 
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I really never thought of using this guy because of weak attack damage but who knows how well it could fare because of stage 1 deck making a comeback which means lower HP Pokémon...

My thoughts on this are:
  • There are not too many water decks running around but you could use Wide Lens (ROS #95) to do double damage to grass weak Pokémon.
  • As it takes two turns (1 grass energy and a DCE) to power this guy up you could use Milotic (FLF #23) to get back on your feet quicker than taking two turns to do the job.
  • I know that this guy takes some setting up but if you could stop your opponent from backing out of there wall with a switching item card then you could attack forever with being attacked yourself (@TuxedoBlack came up with the wall analogy)
    TuxedoBlack said:
    A game strategy could be to Lysandre an opponent's heavy Retreat Cost'ing Poké to the active position, poison it (with Ariados), remove energy from it, use your Dragalge to keep it locked in the active position, and use that poisoned opponent's Poke as a "shield" you can hit around with your Dustox.
    Click to expand...
Hoped that helped :)
 
After further thought, I now think you could forgo utilizing Dragalge; so,

-2 Dragalge
-2 Skrelp

The opponent's wounded and poisoned Pokémon would have at least 90 damage on it from Miltank's attack (without a Muscle band) and the poison. So, to some degree, you want your opponent to retreat his/her Poké that will provide a good target for Dustox later. The "wall" tactic still works too in this case.

Also, minimizing/eliminating the use of Rare Candy for evolution is helpful too; so, a few Giant Plant Stadiums would be helpful so you don't to wait 2-3 turns to evolve.

-2 Training Center
+2 Giant Plant Stadiums

It also occurred to me that Dustox's Ancient Trait can be complemented by other, 1-energy, efficient attacking Pokémon like Manectric EX (Overrun) or Gengar EX (Night Attack). Both of these Pokémon first attack inflicts 20-20 damage or drops 3 damage counters, respectively. Although their repective first attack inflicts low damage compared to Miltank's, these 2 Poké provide attacker diversity, as well as 2-prize EX Poké exposure.

Lastly, consider incorporating Enhanced Hammer, Trick Shovel and/or Xerosic for further disruption.
 
I personally don't like the idea of Training Center, because I don't see a 160 HP Dustox surviving any longer than a 130 HP one in very many instances. Decks are going to want to either take 2HKOs in which case they don't mind hitting for something like 90 or 100, or they want to take 1HKOs on Pokémon-EX in which case they hit for more than 160. Nothing is trying to hit in the 140-150 range. Furthermore, it makes your opponents' evolved Pokémon tougher to KO yourself ... and I suspect the best chance this deck has, with Dustox's damage output, is being able to take KOs on stage 1s. Basically ... I don't think Training Center helps you survive much of anything extra, and I think it hurts you pretty badly when it comes to trying to take prizes with Dustox.

Ariados isn't a bad idea but Poison isn't necessarily the best for you, since you want to only take your prizes via Dustox. It may still be very useful, though. You mentioned bats in your original post; in that vein, since you're already using GPF, Forretress (Flashfire) might not be a bad idea to soften up your opponent's Pokémon either. Miltank as a cheap attacker to soften them up seems like a good plan. Milotic (Flashfire) as mentioned by Plasma Dragon could come in handy. The prize might hurt because Dustox and Miltank (and most of the other suggestions) are easy to KO, but also might be necessary because Dustox isn't the fastest to get energy on.

The Plus AT Pokémon are interesting to me... would love to see some kind of viable deck come out of one of them.
 
You would want to pair Dustox with a Pokemon that can't quite OHKO EX. Sceptile-EX could work this way with Ariados dealing 140-160 (poison damage included). What's great about Sceptile-EX is you have some control over how much damage you deal. You can decide to not poison and deal 60-80 instead taking the KO to set up an addition prize with Dustox the next turn.This can be a risky strategy, and sometimes you would just have to forego the bonus prize and take the KO anyway, but it would make for a fun deck.
 
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