Standard Furious Fist (Buzzwole GX / Diancie Prism / Lycanroc GX)

[Dark Espeon]

FURIOUS FIST

Pokémon (13):

• 1 Diancie Prism Star (enable)
• 1 Buzzwole SM6 (beatdown)
• 1 Tapu Lele GX (beatdown)
• 4 Buzzwole GX (beatdown)
• 1 Lycanroc SM6 (beatdown)
• 2 Lycanroc GX (beatdown)
  
• 3 Rockruff SM6 (evolve)

Trainer (35):

• 2 Professor Kukui (draw)
  
• 3 Sightseer (draw)
• 4 Guzma (control)
• 3 Cynthia (draw)
• 3 Lillie (draw)
• 1 Rescue Stretcher (retrieval)
• 3 Counter Gain (beatdown)
  
• 3 Choice Band (beatdown)
• 4 Beast Ring (accelerate)
• 1 Field Blower (discard)
• 4 Ultra Ball (search)
• 4 Brooklet Hill (search)

Energy (12):

• 11 Fighting Energy
• 1 Beast Energy

STRATEGY:

Start with Buzzwole GX and search out Diancie Prism Star with Brooklet Hill. Lead with Buzzwole GX and soften the opponent’s bench with Jet Punch. Once the active Buzzwole GX has been defeated use Beast Ring to accelerate to the benched Buzzwole GX and send out Buzzwole non-GX to attack. Lycanroc GX and Lycanroc serve as alternate attackers who can abuse Counter Gain to reduce the cost of their main attack to one energy.

SPOILER:

Sightseer
Trainer - Supporter
Draw cards from your deck until you have 5 cards in your hand. Before drawing, you may discard any number of cards from your hand.

Counter Gain
Trainer - Pokémon Tool
As long as you have more prize cards remaining than your opponent, the attacks of the Pokémon this card is attached to cost [C] less.

MODIFICATION LOG:

Removed the third Professor Kukui in favor of a fourth Guzma since this still left me with a decent number of eleven draw supporters to gain access to cards in my deck. This suggestion has been made by TuxedoBlack.

 

[gumball51321]

You totally forgot Elixir. Even with Beast Ring, Elixir is still a staple for Buzzwole, and Beast Ring should be used to get another edge over the opponent in addition to an early game Absorption GX. The deck doesn't really need Field Blower, but if you want to keep it that bad, I would drop to 1 at most. Baby Buzzwole is mediocre, and is another Pokemon taking away from the big boy. Plus, Sudowoodo is already in the deck (The set is BKP btw) to be the one prize attacker which sets up nicely with manual attachments, since with 1 Energy attached on the bench, your opponent has to decide to not blow up your Buzzwole, or forfeit prizes to it. Is 4 Brooklet Hill that necessary? You don't play Octillery, so I would assume 3 is perfectly fine. On top of being generally inferior to Max Elixir, Beast Ring is also too situation based to be a 4-of, although 3 might be a good number where it doesn't clog your hand, but you can get them when you need them. Here are my suggestions:
-1 Buzzwole SM6
-1 Beast Ring
-1 Field Blower
-1 Brooklet Hill
-1 Rescue Stretcher

+4 Max Elixir
+1 Super Rod.

Super Rod is just better. You need basic Energy in your deck to activate Elixir and BR, and Super Rod puts them back, and your Pokemon too. Shuffling them back to the deck isn't a problem anyway, since Brooklet Hill grabs everything in the deck but Lele and Lycanroc.

 

[gumball51321]

It's also a generally good idea to play 4 Guzma in Buzzwole decks. And because you only play 2 Float Stone, this applies especially to this situation.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi gumball51321,

Thanks for the review. Did not miss Max Elixir but decided to run Beast Ring instead. The deck functions a little different than current Buzzwole variants. The main idea is to use Jet Punch with Diancie Prism Star and other damage modifiers until the first Buzzwole Gx is defeated. At that point Beast Ring can be used to fuel other Buzzwole GX on the bench. Once the first Buzzwole GX is defeated send in Buuzwole non-GX to hit for 120 for one attachment. Now factor in the damage modifiers and he is able to ohko the defender in one hit in return. In addition the opponent will be down to three prize cards once Buzzwole GX and Buzzwole non-GX have been defeated. This allows the deck to use Beast Ring again to fuel the other Buzzwole GXs on the bench. Once the opponent took three prize cards the deck shifts from Jet Punch to Knuckle Impact to close the game. With the comparably lower number of Basic Energies and the way the deck is intended to work I prefer Beast Ring over Max Elixir. I do like the idea to include a fourth Guzma and will drop either one Sycamore, one Field Blower, or one Brooklet Hill for it. Not sure which one would be better to cut. Will have to test that out.

 

[gumball51321]

Hi gumball51321,

Thanks for the review. Did not miss Max Elixir but decided to run Beast Ring instead. The deck functions a little different than current Buzzwole variants. The main idea is to use Jet Punch with Diancie Prism Star and other damage modifiers until the first Buzzwole Gx is defeated. At that point Beast Ring can be used to fuel other Buzzwole GX on the bench. Once the first Buzzwole GX is defeated send in Buuzwole non-GX to hit for 120 for one attachment. Now factor in the damage modifiers and he is able to ohko the defender in one hit in return. In addition the opponent will be down to three prize cards once Buzzwole GX and Buzzwole non-GX have been defeated. This allows the deck to use Beast Ring again to fuel the other Buzzwole GXs on the bench. Once the opponent took three prize cards the deck shifts from Jet Punch to Knuckle Impact to close the game. With the comparably lower number of Basic Energies and the way the deck is intended to work I prefer Beast Ring over Max Elixir. I do like the idea to include a fourth Guzma and will drop either one Sycamore, one Field Blower, or one Brooklet Hill for it. Not sure which one would be better to cut. Will have to test that out.

But you give your opponent 2 prizes as part of the game plan. Giving them those turns where their big attackers aren't being knocked out allows them to set up. And what you described is a step-by-step perfect game plan, which almost never happens. If I Guzma and KO any GX while You're attacking with Sledgehammer, the deck falls apart. And even though you have access to Jet Punch for possible grand total of 110, you have your opponent's last 2 prizes sitting in front of them. Ultra Necrozma, Gardy variants, Buzzwoles that play Elixir, and Mew-EX all can ruin your game plan. Any deck that relies on a perfect game plan is set up to do badly.

 

[Dark Espeon]

But you give your opponent 2 prizes as part of the game plan. Giving them those turns where their big attackers aren't being knocked out allows them to set up. And what you described is a step-by-step perfect game plan, which almost never happens. If I Guzma and KO any GX while You're attacking with Sledgehammer, the deck falls apart. And even though you have access to Jet Punch for possible grand total of 110, you have your opponent's last 2 prizes sitting in front of them. Ultra Necrozma, Gardy variants, Buzzwoles that play Elixir, and Mew-EX all can ruin your game plan. Any deck that relies on a perfect game plan is set up to do badly.

The deck does not rely on a perfect game plan. The first Buzzwole GX will hit for a decent number with Jet Punch using the damage modifiers. On usual it does not take more than two hits to knock out opposing Pokémon in this manner. This sets the opponent on a clock to knock out the active Buzzwole GX and activate Beast Ring. While setting up two Buzzwole GX on the bench with Beast Rings you hit them with an active Buzzwole non-GX for up to 190 damage. This should be sufficient to take two prizes in addition to the one to two prizes the first Buzzwole GX obtained with Jet Punch and the damage modifiers. Even if they Guzma out one of the Buzzwole Gx and knock it out instead of Buzzwole non-Gx there is another one left on the bench to take over. From initial test runs with this deck Beast Ring is even more consistent than Max Elixir and the tech Buzzole non-GX pays off because he helps the deck to pressure the opponent and reduce the number of turns they have available to set up multiple attackers.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi folks,

Updated the list for the new post-rotation SM-on format since I believe that Buzzwole and Lycanroc can still be relevant even with Strong Energy rotating.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

As an old Landorus EX player, I started playing Buzzwole GX from "day 1." From my playing experience, I've found that "little" Buzzwole to be a very, very effective attacker as much as Buzzwole GX. However, Buzzwole is just a 1-prize target. So, I'd sugget replacing 1 Buzzwole GX with 1 Buzzwole. And, if you could add a 3rd Buzzwole, IMO, it would be well worth it.

IMO, 4 Brooklet Hill are excessive; I'd suggest you consider reducing this count by 1 and increasing your Field Blower count by the same.

A 4th Guzma, IMO, is definitely worth reducing your reducing your 12 card-draw Supporters by 1. In fact, 11/12 card-draw Supporters seem quite excessive.

In regards to strategy, I find that I'm "careful" not to activate my opponent's Beast Rings before I'm in a "good" position to respond. So, the opportunity to actually even use 2 Beast Rings, let alone 3-4, seem very limited from my experience. Thoughts?

Further, do the Counter Gain Tools help that much? A 3-count seem excessive to me, especially since Buzzwole GX can not use them. I can envision you being behind in certain match-ups, and the CGs can help accelerate your game position back to an "even" prize and/or game position, but that may only be in a few (?) situations or not on a "regular" basis. What are your thoughts from early testing thus far?

I hope you find these comments helpful.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review which has been useful as usual. As a start I will outline the modification that you suggested that will be immediately implemented and the one that I am cautious to implement due to personal preference. I agree on the fourth Guzma and will cut one Professor Kukui for it. However I am partial to the fourth Brooklet Hill since I do want it out turn one and I also want a counter stadium to deal with Thunder Mountain Prism Star and Commandment Shrine.

I will also consider to trade one Buzzwole GX for one Buzzwole non-GX but not sure on it at the moment. I will need to test the deck a little more to see if this modification fits me and whether it is warranted. I mainly focus on the first attack with Buzzwole non-GX which becomes a lot less potent with Strong Energy rotating. This is the main reason I hesitate to make the modification immediately. I will also consider Regirock from Celestial Storm as an alternative to the second Buzzwole non-GX but I will have to test this options out first.

I do agree with you that I will most likely not be able to use more than two Beast Ring but I do get two of them off most of the time and that helps me a lot. The main reason for this is that I usually start with Buzzwole GX and focus on Jet Punch to apply early pressure. He also serves as an initial pray to help me activate Beast Ring. I usually attempt to have only Buzzwole GX, Buzzwole non-GX or Rockruff on the bench. Thus there will only be one energyless non-Gx to be knocked out to increase the chance that the opponent focuses on knocking out a Pokémon GX and enables me to activate Beast Ring. However, more than two are not likely to be used most of the time but I want to make sure to have them in hand at the right moment. For this reason I maxed out the Beast Ring count. A similar argument holds for Counter Gain. Counter Gain enables me to use Lycanroc and Lycanroc GX akin to Buzzwole non-GX. If I am behind in prizes both Lycanroc can use their main attack for a single attachment which helps me to get back into the game. With a full bench and Professor Kukui they may even be able to net me a ohko. On usualy I hardly get to use more than one or two Counter Gain but I want to make sure to draw into them when needed. Lycanroc GX hitting for a total of 250 damage for one energy attachment is quite good at turning the tables. I took this idea from playtesting with my new Grass deck called High Garden after seeing that it worked rather well there. Since I assume that decks using psychic attackers such as Sinister Intention (Malamar variant) and Beast Box variants such as Blitzkrieg will remain popular in addition to other ohko decks there is a considerable chance that I have to come back from behind from time to time but I only had about five matches with each of the several modified decks that I posted thus far.