Standard Groudon EX / Wigglytuff

[kalandine]

Deck 4

I have decades of experience with collectible card games including at least 30 different games, but very little with Pokémon. My son showed interest and has started playing the game and we are focused on standard.

I want him to learn aspects of card games and have built 5 decks to showcase different aspects of card games. I have quickly found, however, that Pokémon approaches certain aspects of game play differently. I want him to understand card advantage (draw vs. delving vs. tutoring), game rhythm, and sacrifice. The decks I put together are below and some have been constrained in their build paradigms by requests (preference for water and now Kyogre, wanting a Fire/Electric deck, etc.).

If there are any aspects of game management or deck building theories that I haven't capture, please recommend them. If there are cards that would help a deck, please suggest them. Note that I build decks by purchasing singles, so opportunities to include any cards more costly than $5 are unlikely (i.e., no Shaymin EX).

Finally, card decisions have mostly been made based on level of play. For instance, while I understand that Processor Sycamore is typically better than Tierno, beginning players often have trouble discarding a good card in hand to play Sycamore. Tierno is the less skill intensive card and thus it is my current choice most of the time. Please keep this in consideration when making recommendations.

Thanks for your input and help. I will reply to this thread with one post for each of the five current decks we are using.

Pokémon (19)

• 4 Groudon EX
• 4 Jigglypuff
• 3 Wigglytuff
• 4 Landorus
• 2 Gardevoir EX
• 2 Hawlucha EX

Trainers/Suporters/Stadiums (23)

• 4 Tierno
• 1 Professor Sycamore
• 2 Korrina
• 1 Teammates
• 4 Acro Bike
• 4 Fairy Garden
• 4 Team Flare Grunt
• 2 VS Seeker
• 1 Xerosic

Energy (18)

• 9 Fairy Energy
• 6 Fighting Energy
• 3 Strong Energy

Strategy:

This deck started off as something very different. Originally it was designed as a defensive oriented batch of Pokémon who left their opponents paralyzed. It was a first pass at a control deck. Now, the deck seeks control through Groudon EX, Team Flare Grunt, and Xerosic. Wigglytuff has survived, but little else from the original deck remains.

 

[Mr. Wiskers]

have you thought about running a mega primal groudon EX? It has a ridiculous amount of health and does quite a bit of damage (not to mention it's primal trait that protects it from your opponents trainers), though you might need to look into energy acceleration for it does use allot of energy to attack.

your supporter line also needs some additional boosting, for in the current standard format, all decks you will encounter will be fast and furious, not waiting at all for a slow supporter line. More sycamore, maybe Shauna and professor birch?

 

[gumball51321]

You need 4 VS Seeker. Drop the Tierno, because it is horrible. I know you're relatively new, but like Mr. Wiskers said, the current decks are fast and furious, and Tierno is horribly mediocre, and not at all aggressive. Ditch a bunch of energies, because with Pokémon, too many energies will "clog" your hand, and you will be in a bad position. If you're looking for a control/disruption deck, you might want to try Seismitoad-EX from Furious Fists, which prevents your opponent from playing items, and play Crushing Hammers from Kalos Starter Set, as well as Enhanced Hammer from Phantom Forces. I can probably give you an aggressive list that would seem to have the same strategy, and essentially the same list. I suggest you follow.

Pokémon:15

• 3 Groudon-EX
• 3 Primal Groudon-EX (Primal Clash
• 3 Xerneas( XY
• 2 Jigglypuff
• 2 Wigglytuff (XY #90
• 2 Smeargle( Breakthrough

Trainers:37

• 3 Prof. Sycamore
• 1 Judge( Breakthrough
• 1 Lysandre
• 1 Shauna
• 1 Team Flare Grunt
• 1 Hex Maniac
• 3 Fairy Garden
• 1 Fighting Stadium( Furious Fists
• 2 Groudon Spirit Link
• 1 Muscle Band
• 3 Ultra Ball
• 2 Enhanced Hammer
• 3 Crushing Hammer
• 1 Battle Compressor
• 1 Prof. Letter
• 1 Switch
• 4 VS Seeker
• 3 Trainers' Mail

Energy:12

• 7 Fairy
• 5 Fighting

Here's a good competitive deck that I've based around your list. It's more aggressive while at the same time, defensive. Primal Groudon can potentially OHKO anything in the game, so that is a good choice of main attacker. Let me get to the strategy: Xerneas' Geomancy can fetch 2 Fairy Energy from your deck and attach them to different Pokémon. if you use that your first 3 turns, you should be good. You can Geomancy a Groudon and a Jigglypuff, then next turn, evolve Jigglypuff and Groudon and Geomancy again. if you manually attached to Groudon at least one Fighting Energy, you can be set for a while. after you have 3 Fairy and 1 Fighting attached to a Primal Groudon, you can either retreat for free using Fairy Garden, or use Switch into it, then use Smeargle's ability to switch a basic energy from your active Pokémon( Primal Groudon), you can use it twice since you play 2, to then get the other two energies you need to attack with Gaia Volcano.

 

[LightningCloud224]

You need 4 VS Seeker. Drop the Tierno, because it is horrible. I know you're relatively new, but like Mr. Wiskers said, the current decks are fast and furious, and Tierno is horribly mediocre, and not at all aggressive. Ditch a bunch of energies, because with Pokémon, too many energies will "clog" your hand, and you will be in a bad position. If you're looking for a control/disruption deck, you might want to try Seismitoad-EX from Furious Fists, which prevents your opponent from playing items, and play Crushing Hammers from Kalos Starter Set, as well as Enhanced Hammer from Phantom Forces. I can probably give you an aggressive list that would seem to have the same strategy, and essentially the same list. I suggest you follow.

Pokémon:15

• 3 Groudon-EX
• 3 Primal Groudon-EX (Primal Clash
• 3 Xerneas( XY
• 2 Jigglypuff
• 2 Wigglytuff (XY #90
• 2 Smeargle( Breakthrough

Trainers:37

• 3 Prof. Sycamore
• 1 Judge( Breakthrough
• 1 Lysandre
• 1 Shauna
• 1 Team Flare Grunt
• 1 Hex Maniac
• 3 Fairy Garden
• 1 Fighting Stadium( Furious Fists
• 2 Groudon Spirit Link
• 1 Muscle Band
• 3 Ultra Ball
• 2 Enhanced Hammer
• 3 Crushing Hammer
• 1 Battle Compressor
• 1 Prof. Letter
• 1 Switch
• 4 VS Seeker
• 3 Trainers' Mail

Energy:12

• 7 Fairy
• 5 Fighting

Here's a good competitive deck that I've based around your list. It's more aggressive while at the same time, defensive. Primal Groudon can potentially OHKO anything in the game, so that is a good choice of main attacker. Let me get to the strategy: Xerneas' Geomancy can fetch 2 Fairy Energy from your deck and attach them to different Pokémon. if you use that your first 3 turns, you should be good. You can Geomancy a Groudon and a Jigglypuff, then next turn, evolve Jigglypuff and Groudon and Geomancy again. if you manually attached to Groudon at least one Fighting Energy, you can be set for a while. after you have 3 Fairy and 1 Fighting attached to a Primal Groudon, you can either retreat for free using Fairy Garden, or use Switch into it, then use Smeargle's ability to switch a basic energy from your active Pokémon( Primal Groudon), you can use it twice since you play 2, to then get the other two energies you need to attack with Gaia Volcano.

Despite it's quirkiness and complexity, I do also recommend this list to try out but suggest a second battle compressor for the muscle band. You want to be able to make sure those fighting energies land in the discard pile for smeargle's effect and you want access to key supporters with vs seeker.