Help Does Vika/Bulu Struggle Against Decks Like Rayquaza, Metagross, and Decidueye/Ninetales?

StevenM

Aspiring Trainer
Member
The first 2 seem like flat out yes but I seem to be having trouble beating Decidueye/Ninetales with Bulu/Vikavolt. The sniping ability and the high HP of Decidueye just proves to be too much and Razor Leafs can pick up Ko's. I was thinking maybe I just suck because I felt I should win against it somehow but yeah...idk. Glad it's rotating or wont be as good.
 
Bulu is in solid 2 shot range for all of these, where are you having trouble? getting more energies on bulu? probably this is a better discussion in the deck garage where we could give you feedback on your particular deck. I think Bulu is going to be a major force against most of the meta short of Volc. even against ninetails, with a Choice band you can 1shot the main attacker and decidueye can't really maintain enough to completely ruin you at 180+ damage/turn.
 
I guess the trouble is that I suck then. Because no matter what I did vs Decidueye, I always fudging lose because they trainers mail, Ultra Ball, Shaymin, Forest, evolve, sycamore, ultra ball again, etc, etc the whole game. They get going so fast and chip away at me and just win.
 
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StevenM, you seem to be playing a number of competitive decks and coming to the conclusion that you just suck at the game. Previously other members have mentioned learning the fundamentals. do you primarily play online or IRL? Really think about how your deck can compete with whatever the meta is in your local area if you are playing IRL and tech your deck against it. Bulu can do well, but it isn't going to play itself. again, this might be a better topic for the deck garage where you can get feedback about your deck and specifically where you are finding you are being slowed down.
 
The deck cannot compete against those decks I mentioned. I have tested the deck enough to know this. I have reeled off 10 wins in a row online with this deck at one point. Even beating OmniPoke from Youtube. I say that I suck because you make it seem like these matchups are winnable. They aren't. Bulu can 2 shot them all but they can often 1 shot me me, aside from Decidueye. So how is that a favorable or winnable matchup for me?

Sorry but Bulu is good but not against those decks, which is why I made this topic to get reassurance of the bad matchups.
 
Yeah, just lost to another Decidueye deck with Bulu. This one even runs MAX POTIONS... How am I supposed to win against that? Everytime I try to take out the Decidueyes, he just Max Potioned EVERY time. But yeah, I need to learn the fundamentals? How could I have won?
 
The only things that can OHKO Bulu are Volc and Solgaleo. Others can with Choice band. Part of playing well is understanding wh?at is most likely to be played by your opponent a move before they do. You have to be aware of what the top decks in the meta require to be successful and play against those things. Even with an aggro style deck like Bulu, you have to play smart to win consistently. Sometimes you can't outplay them based on typing and damage output. If you had a 10 round streak, how bad are you loosing streaks?
 
Are you sure? Metagross can hit me with Choice Band and take me out. Even if it can't, it can Max Potion or retreat out to another and finish me off next turn. And I lose a few then win a bunch. I lose to the decks I mentioned. I'm fairly sure it's not me, it's the matchups. It's hard to beat a deck that takes 2 hits to finish off but they can like hit you back for a bunch of damage or heal it off.
 
On the flip side, you have Bulu's gx move and after discarding your energies, you can use max potion as well. There are poor matchups, but loosing a match and winning a bunch isnt exactly the worst. That's rock-paper-scissors sir. If your deck won against everything then everyone would be playing it and no one would want to play Pokemon aor all. Buck up buttercup.
 
On the flip side, you have Bulu's gx move and after discarding your energies, you can use max potion as well. There are poor matchups, but loosing a match and winning a bunch isnt exactly the worst. That's rock-paper-scissors sir. If your deck won against everything then everyone would be playing it and no one would want to play Pokemon aor all. Buck up buttercup.

I was kinda getting on you because you say I should be beating these 3 decks I mentioned but trading 2 shots with decks that can one shot me aren't easy to win. Although, Decidueye won't be an issue after rotation. And Bulu with Max Potion? I'm not sure I've seen anyone use that in their builds of the deck. Could be something new if i'm wrong.
 
The deck cannot compete against those decks I mentioned. I have tested the deck enough to know this. I have reeled off 10 wins in a row online with this deck at one point. Even beating OmniPoke from Youtube. I say that I suck because you make it seem like these matchups are winnable. They aren't. Bulu can 2 shot them all but they can often 1 shot me me, aside from Decidueye. So how is that a favorable or winnable matchup for me?

Sorry but Bulu is good but not against those decks, which is why I made this topic to get reassurance of the bad matchups.
So you post a thread asking for help, someone disagrees with you, and you're suddenly the sole authority on VikaBulu?? You need to post a "help" thread to repair your own ego or something? The matchups aren't great, but there's always room for improvement.

Perhaps you can try tossing in a few non-EX/GX attackers to stay ahead in the prize trade.
 
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If I had an ego, I wouldn't even be on here. All I know is that the deck struggles against the aforementioned decks. I've tested the deck to know that much at least. I'm not the authority on the deck but it's frustrating when someone says those matchups aren't that bad when my own eyes and testing have told me differently.

I think the deck is great, just not sure about the deck going forward. Gardevoir GX could be a problem too with it's ability to ramp energies and it's high HP. Metagross is a problem, as Choice Bands can mean Bulu are one shot. Volcanion is winnable but depends on how fast setting up is. If Volcanion gets set up fast, it's a losing battle. As a Volcanion player that beat Bulu, that's usually how that goes.

Idk, if you have any suggestions on what I can do to improve these matchups, I'd love to know.
 
You're right, there are less than stellar matchups. Rock really struggles against paper, but scissors wins that match hands down. pokemon is really just a big game of rock-paper-scissors. Bulu will do well against much of the meta, as by your own admission you win a bunch of matches. it will struggle against it's weaknesses, and one of those is getting OHKO. Things like metagross take time to set up, that means you need to be faster and be able to strategically lysandre/guzma to avoid OHKO. also, you might try teching in a vikavolt gx since it has higher hp and can deal decent damage.
 
You're right, there are less than stellar matchups. Rock really struggles against paper, but scissors wins that match hands down. pokemon is really just a big game of rock-paper-scissors. Bulu will do well against much of the meta, as by your own admission you win a bunch of matches. it will struggle against it's weaknesses, and one of those is getting OHKO. Things like metagross take time to set up, that means you need to be faster and be able to strategically lysandre/guzma to avoid OHKO. also, you might try teching in a vikavolt gx since it has higher hp and can deal decent damage.

Yes, but Bulu being a stage 2 deck means that it is not always able to be fast. Add in the fact that Metagross use Max Potions to heal off all damage, it makes it even tougher. In my few games vs that deck, I was unable to get going fast enough to stop Metagross from hitting the field. And this is with current lists of Bulu. But it's a tough matchup so i'm more likely to lose than win. I'd have to draw very good to win.
 
Metagross is a problem, as Choice Bands can mean Bulu are one shot. Volcanion is winnable but depends on how fast setting up is. If Volcanion gets set up fast, it's a losing battle. As a Volcanion player that beat Bulu, that's usually how that goes.

Idk, if you have any suggestions on what I can do to improve these matchups, I'd love to know.
I've seen a lot of people play Fighting Fury Belt in VikaBulu, that would give you just enough HP to survive (unless they Kukui), correct? That could help.

Not sure there's much to tech again Volcanion. Might be better to not waste deck space teching much against it and accept the loss. If Volcanion becomes super popular next rotation, then it's worth looking for techs.

Edit: You can throw in a Hex Maniac to help vs Volcanion.
 
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