Discussion Best Partners for Vileplume in Standard?

[PlinfaTheBest]

Hi everyone,

as I thought about what deck is a sleeper pick right now, Vileplume came to my head. Because Seismitoad gets stopped by Jirachi, Xerosic etc., Vileplume could be our item locking buddy right now. All decks play loads of items again, especially the top tier decks like Night March, Vespiquen, YZG, Manectric/Bats and Lucario/Bats. Even Entei, the only top tier fire deck, plays lots of tools and items to get the T1 Blacksmith.
Because the meta is so good right now, it's on us to find the best partner available for it. I could imagine the following:
Manectric (good against YZG if they can't hit Gallade)
Vespiquen (already proved itself at some spots, can play thick Vileplume lines and discard the not needed copies for more damage)
Giratina (more lock, but kind of slow)
Regice (EX lock, also a bit slower)
Lucario (if Manectric gets stronger)

What are your thoughts about Vileplume? Could you see it as one of the top tier decks again? Please tell me your opinion and suggest some new partners for our favorite flower!

 

[NintendoAlian]

I played VileGice at three cities, and I bubbled two times and completely missed cut another time. I think this deck depends on the meta. Night March beats this deck, and possibly Vespiquen(I have a 2-1 record with Vespiquen), but Zoroark can be beaten if you play SUPER carefully, which might not be the best idea because if they use Break, then playing careful is useless. Besides that, it beats BatMan, Entei, Lucario/Bats, and possibly MegaMan. But, VespiPlume has the best results and is much more consistent. I think that Vespiquen is the best partner for Vileplume.

 

[Serperior]

Vespiquen and it's not even close. After Andrew Wamboldt brought his rogue to life, he pointed out a lot of great options with the pair - both has access to FOGP, both requires going off T1 to be effective.

The problem Vileplume has is that sometimes a timely Hex Maniac is all you need to get back into the game. Just one turn of Trainers for your opponent can hurt you if you don't go first/can't get the lock. Furthermore, you only (generally) play four DCE as your Energy source. So, Xerosic and Jirachi hurt. Sometimes, your opponent can win with just an Aegislash active. You can't attack...and you lose.