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Gaia Volcano (P Groundon EX / Landorus / Hawlucha)

Dark Espeon

Dark Espeon

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GAIA VOLCANO

Pokémon (12):

  • 3 P Groundon EX (beatdown)
    3 Groundon EX (beatdown)
    2 Hawlucha (beatdown)
    4 Landorus (beatdown)

Trainers (36):

  • 1 Lysandre's Last Resort (reshuffle)
    4 Professor Sycamore (draw)
    4 Korrina (search)
    2 Lysandre (gust)
    4 N (draw)
    3 Groundon Spirit Link (evolution)
    1 Startling Megaphone (discard)
    1 Scramble Switch (conserve)
    1 Professor's Letter (search)
    3 Mega Turbo (accelerate)
    1 Escape Rope (switch)
    3 VS Seeker (reuse)
    1 Max Potion (heal)
    1 Switch (switch)
    2 Fighting Stadium (beatdown)
    4 Scorching Earth (draw)

Energy (12):

  • 8 Fighting Energy
    4 Strong Energy

STRATEGY:

Go first and start with Landorus. Use Korrina to search for Groundon Ex and attach a basic energy to him. Next turn start to draw with Scorching Earth and accelerate from the discard with Landorus. Evolve into Primal Groundon and use Mega Turbo to accelerate even more from the discard. On the third turn attack with Primal Groundon Ex to ohko the defender. Built another Primal Groundon Ex on the bench and use Scramble Switch to conserve resources. Trainers have been selected to draw and search out needed cards fast. Akin to other [F] decks Korrina will be the heart and soul of this deck since she makes this version real consistent.

SPOILER:

Mega Turbo
Trainer - Item
Attach 1 basic energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Mega Evolved Pokémon in play.
 
Hi folks,

Would be interested in comments on this list. Need to fit one more stadium but unsure what to take out for it.
 
Hi PokeBoss123,

Thanks for the review. On usual I like to run two to three Vs Seeker since this card is so versatile once the first supporters have been used. Also this deck tends to recycle Korrina a lot. How about one less Max Potion for the sixth stadium card? I thought that this card needs to be combined with Scramble Switch and should not be used without it in this deck. The main reason to use this combo was to maintain energies on the board once the first Primal Groundon is about to be knocked out.

Hi Ceeelso,

Thanks for the review. Not sure on Korrina since she is the heart and soul of [F] decks and makes them real consistent. How about one less Max Potion to fit the sixth stadium card? I thought that this card needs to be combined with Scramble Switch and should not be used without it in this deck. The main reason to use this combo was to maintain energies on the board once the first Primal Groundon is about to be knocked out.
 
Actually taking one korrina wouldn't hurt at all. Besides you already play lysandre's last resort so 3 can easily become 12 :p (with vs seekers and LLResort) Plus korrina only gives you 1 item card per turn. The deck, in order to function perfectly, seems to need 5-6 items in the first turn ... This can be a problem ... Sycamore or Korrina Turn 1 ?
Max potion would definitely save you from a damaged landorus, keep that in mind ... but if I were you I would surely + 1 Vs Seeker - Supporter / or Fighting Stadium which can't function well to be honest ... only 2 won't win the stadium war (when needed) because stadium cards have become very popular and are at least 3 in every deck (with exceptions of course).

Either way your decklist is very good.... (as always)
Keep up the goos work :D Dark Espeoff (cold pun-intended:p)
 
Hi Green778,

Thanks for the review. I am real partial to Korrina since she makes the deck real consistent and on usual she is used turn one if possible. The deck has a total of five stadiums at the moment. You want to start with Landorus and Scorching Earth to discard basic fighting energy and accelerate it to a benched Groundon Ex. Next turn use Korrina to search for spirit Link and Primal Groundon to evolve him. Now he cannot be affected by trainer cards. Attach to Primal Groundon Ex and accelerate from the discard again. On the third turn you have a Primal ready to attack. Landorus only needs to survive two turns. Later on he is not needed anymore. Once the first Primal is about to be knocked out switch the energies to a benched one. The deck needs to proposed counts on the consistency cards to be stable. However it seems to need a sixth stadium card to draw them faster since Primal Groundon Ex discards the stadium cards. Thus I am looking to cut on the other utility items to fit the sixth stadium. Would be interested in ideas on which utility item may be cut to fit the sixth stadium card to make the deck a little more consistent.
 
Take out 1 Korrina. 4 is...really not needed. Also, the Max Potion isn't really good in this. I'm assuming it's for the Groudons, so ignore this if it isn't (you shouldn't be running it for Hawlucha and Landorus). Groudon needs 4 Energy to attack, so Yveltal wrecks it. If you Max Potion, Yveltal KOes you by the time it's ready again, so not very good imo.
So basically:
-1 Korrina
-2 Max Potion
+1 Fighting Stadium
+2 Dedenne (Yveltal eats you alive)
 
Hi Vom,

Thanks for the review. Max Potion was intended for Primal Groundon once Scramble Switch has been used. Would not use it without the Scramble Switch since that would slow the deck down a lot. Yveltal Ex should not be able to ohko Primal Groundon. He is immune to Laser Bank and with four energies Yveltal does no more than 200 damage with Muscle Band. That was the reason behind Scramble Switch and Max Potion. Switch over to a new Primal Groundon and ohko Yveltal Ex while you heal the old one which waits on the bench to be refueled. With the review in mind I think that one Max Potion should suffice which allows me to fit the sixth stadium. Will edit the deck now. Thanks for the assistance.
 
One of the basic principles I follow during battles is to "follow the energy." For me, I'd Lysandre the Groudon EX / P Groudon EX (the real, main threat) and attack that beast since it's receiving energy from your starting Landorus. My reasons are simple: 1) Landorus is not a major threat at all early game; 2) this is the only viable way to effectuate F energy attachment acceleration - so, I'd want to eliminate this process asap; 3) P Groudon EX's Retreat Cost is "fantastic" from an opponent's point and view; so, you may need to manually attach energy at that point allowing an opponent to possibly attack multiple times; and 3) P Groudon EX will be an absolute terror which can not easily be 2HKOd even.

I just don't think your 1 Switch, 1 Escape Rope and Scramble Switch will be sufficient against the aforementioned tactic, especially if you're Item-locked (or 1 or some of those resources are prized). So, the bottom line is I'd suggest you get another Switch or Cassius into your deck. I purposely mentioned Cassius as an alternative, because if your opponent Head Ringer's your Groudon EX and then Item-locks you, Cassius comes to the rescue.

Lastly, I like running 3 VS Seekers in my decks too.
 
Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review.

TuxedoBlack said:
One of the basic principles I follow during battles is to "follow the energy." For me, I'd Lysandre the Groudon EX / P Groudon EX (the real, main threat) and attack that beast since it's receiving energy from your starting Landorus.

Lastly, I like running 3 VS Seekers in my decks too.
Click to expand...

That is also a valid tatcic that is common around here. Until Groundon devolved into Primal Groundon Ex that tactic in fact works. It is one of the reasons Seismitoad could remain viable with Pokémon Tools F. Once Primal Groundon Ex is out trainer cards other than Pokémon Tools and Stadium cards do not affect him. So he can be out on the second turn with Korrina to search for it and the Spirit Link card. It comes down to a race but Seismitoad still could be faster. For this reason Hawlucha was added as another basic to hit in the meantime until Primal Groundon has been fueled.

I like the idea of a fourth Switch card. Will remove the lone Max Potion for the fourth Switch card. As became obvious I am a fan of three Vs Seekers in most decks too.
 
I spent a good hour discussing this deck and some others. One major threat to this deck will be VirGen (Sceptile is another one); so, a lone Spiritomb (LTR) could be helpful. Hopefully, these will not become popular should more players start running Fire decks.

By the way, what about Head Ringers to slow your opponent down further?
 
Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review. Have Weakness Policy to cover the Grass weakness and force VirGen to resort to G Booster and four benched Deoxy Ex to knock out Primal Groundon Ex in one hit. With Omega barrier the tool cannot be removed by the opponent and neither can be energies.

In addition to the VirGen match other threats would be Mega Gardevoir Ex based fairies as well as Primal Kyogre Ex and Mega Aggron Ex. The former two should be a little faster than this deck while the latter one seems to be at the same pace from our initial test runs and relies on a coinflip. More general, all decks that can disable one Primal Groundon to take 3-4 prizes before he is about to get knocked out pose a problem to this deck.

I like Head Ringers a lot and initially ran them instead of Weakness Policy but the later one seemed to be more important to cover the Grass weakness. Any ideas on how you would fit in two Head Ringers without making the deck less consistent?
 
Dark Espeon said:
Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review. Have Weakness Policy to cover the Grass weakness and force VirGen to resort to G Booster and four benched Deoxy Ex to knock out Primal Groundon Ex in one hit. With Omega barrier the tool cannot be removed by the opponent and neither can be energies.

I like Head Ringers a lot and initially ran them instead of Weakness Policy but the later one seemed to be more important to cover the Grass weakness. Any ideas on how you would fit in two Head Ringers without making the deck less consistent?
Click to expand...

Hmm no Megaphones you say? Looks like it's Chatot PLF's time tp shine! :D

For Head Ringers I would take out 2 of these three options:
1 Switch/Escape Rope - Right now you have 4 Switching cards and 4 Korrina. The only Pokemon that really needs switch is Groudon (Landorus has 1RC and Hawlucha has none), and taking one out shouldn't hurt with the 4 Korrina.
1 VS Seeker - This is really a personal preference because I feel like I never need the 3rd one.
1 Fighting Stadium - Strong Energy already helps OHKO other Mega/Primal Pokemon so Fighting Stadium isn't needed all that often. LTC can get back Stadiums anyways, should you ever have some reason to do 200+ damage more than 4 times in a game.

Hope this helps :)
 
Hi, this seems like a fairly solid deck list, but I am tempted to say that you should consider a Sacred Ash in this deck, since you only have 3-3 of pokemon that you really can deal a heavy amount of damage with. being forced to juniper a primal groudon at the start and then having another prized and you could have only 1 primal groudon to do anything with. It could end up being a pretty bad situation for you. I see you have Lysandre's Trump Card but I feel like that card is quite clumsy and also very unhelpful early on when you need to be using supporters. It would be especially bad if you start vs big basic non-exs such as yveltal, since hawlucha can't hurt it and landorus does base 0 damage to it thanks to resistance, up to a max of 20 with strong energy. Since you have a very weak early matchup vs these sort of decks, having sacred ash to bring back your small amount of core pokemon would be helpful incase they get discarded, knocked out, or prized early, without having to waste a supporter for the turn. Hopefully this makes sense
Also I think you are meaning to write groudon instead of groundon ^^ (sorry)


edit: you probably also dont want to play lysandre's trump card because landorus likes to recycle that discarded energy onto benched Groudons.
 
Dark Espeon said:
Have Weakness Policy to cover the Grass weakness and force VirGen to resort to G Booster and four benched Deoxy Ex to knock out Primal Groundon Ex in one hit.
Click to expand...
I don't believe you will see this occurring; it would diminish the effectiveness of the VirGen deck too much, IMO.

Dark Espeon said:
In addition to the VirGen match other threats would be Mega Gardevoir Ex based fairies as well as Primal Kyogre Ex and Mega Aggron Ex. The former two should be a little faster than this deck while the latter one seems to be at the same pace from our initial test runs and relies on a coin flip. More general, all decks that can disable one Primal Groundon to take 3-4 prizes before he is about to get knocked out pose a problem to this deck.
Click to expand...
All of these new PC decks, can "out-speed" yours in regards to energy attachment acceleration, as well as possibly snipe your benched Poke. But they also don't present any Weakness threats to your deck.

So, maybe Weakness Policy will have less of an impact given all of the other decks you might encounter? So, I'd suggest replacing the Weakness Policy cards with Head Ringers which would have more usefulness, IMO.
 
Hi Carpey,

Thanks for the review. Included the fourth switch card to make sure that Groudon Ex cannot be gusted out and ends up active before he devolved into Primal Groundon Ex. scramble switch needs to be conserved for the time where the first Primal Groundon Ex is about to be knocked out to conserve the resources for the second one. Since Primal Groundon Ex is the main attacker each of them needs to earn at least three prize cards before he is knocked out. Since Primal Groundon needs to discard a stadium card I feel that the deck will need sixof them to achieve the ohkos. The three Vs Seeker are personal preference but I like them a lot in [F] decks to recover Korrina. that card really makes the deck consistent. I considered to run Head Ringer instead of Weakness Policy but that would be a eta game call and depends on whether one expects more Grass decks or other new decks that can achieve ohkos. What are your thoughts on these considerations.

Hi Pipotchi,

Thanks for the review. Initially Lysandre's last resort were intended to allow me to reuse lost stadium cards since Primal Groundon Ex needs to discard them to achieve ohkos. Dowsing maschine would be another option but I wanted scramble switch in the deck to move energies from a Primal Groundon ex that would be knocked out next turn to a fresh one that can still take some hits and obtain some prizes for me. The main problem is that Primal Groundon takes time to be fueled and I did not want to loose momentum.

Hi TuxedoBlack,

I know that VirGen will not run four Deoxys. I mentioned this scenario as a reason why i felt that Weakness Policy was chosen over head Ringer in metagames where you expect a considerable amount of Grass decks. my reasoning was that with Primal Groundon Ex and Primal Kyogre Ex grass dekcs could be popular despite the fact that Silent Lab and Pokémon tool F hurt them a lot when used in combination. In case Grass decks turn out to be less common Weakness Policy can be removed in favor or two Head Ringers. At present the metagame is in constant movement and it is hard to tell what decks will be used more often since the Japanese set has only been out for about one month.
 
With 6 stadiums of your own and at least 1 stadium of your opponents (altho stadiums are becoming more and more used, with 4 in fairy decks, sometimes 4 in dimension valley decks etc) I cant imagine that you will run out of stadiums to discard, as you have enough in your deck to deal 200 6 times and in reality you should probably not need to even deal 200 every time, 100 would be enough to knock out something like a donphan previously weakened by landorus with strong energy. I agree scramble switch is a nice card in the deck but I really dont think Lysandre's Trump Card is really pulling any weight in your deck when you need 3-6 stadiums to win the game. I know you are not a fan of sacred ash so maybe a single bicycle (has synergy with korrina) could be a replacement?
 
I don't know how much you're willing to change the deck, but I really think Victini should be in here. Not only does it have more energy acceleration than Landorus, but if you play V-piece, it can insta-shutdown your biggest threat: VirGen. This will require some other changes however.

- 3 Landorus
- Scramble Switch
- 2 Fighting Energy
- 1 Weakness Policy
- 1 N


+ 3 Victini-EX
+ Victory Piece
+ 3 Fire Energy
+ 1 Letter
 
Hi Pipotchi,

Thanks for the review. Not entire sure since the deck needs Scorching Earth out from the start to draw and accelerate for two turns. On turn three Primal Groundon can take over and he needs to draw in stadium cards in time. I do not assume that the opponent will use their stadium cards once Primal Groundon has been revealed. I see your point with Lysandre's Last Resort. The original intent was to shuffle Scramble Switch and a few stadium cards back into the deck while you have one Korrina in hand. In that manner you can switch the resources to a new Primal twice which makes the deck a little faster assuming that Primal Groundon survived. Setting up two Primal Groundon with Landorus seems a little slow to me. Will also test one more Professor's Letter instead of Lysandre's Last Resort to see how it works.

Hi FaustVIII,

Thanks for the review. I see where you are coming from but I am not sure on Victini Ex since he is real easy to ohko and gives up two prizes. It also does not allow me to use Scramble Switch which does speed up the deck a lot.
 
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