Expanded Hustle & Bustle (Natu/Latios/Landorus EX)

[Perfect_Shot]

A prototype list of a Hustle Belt deck, a new card that turns weak attackers into mean beatsticks. Since the cards that can actually use HB are mostly and purely terrible, I simply chose the two that made the most sense against the current Expanded metagame and added a bunch of strong spread users to assist them in getting clean knockouts.


Pokemon - 13

4 Latios SHL
3 Natu ROS
2 Landorus EX
2 Foongus NVI
1 Necrozma GX
1 Oranguru SUM


Supporters - 11

4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Guzma
1 Colress
1 Professor Kukui


Items - 21

4 Nest Ball
3 Hustle Belt
3 VS Seeker
3 Acro Bike
2 Battle Compressor
2 Choice Band
2 Field Blower
1 Special Charge
1 Dowsing Machine
1 Super Rod


Stadiums - 4

4 Dimension Valley


Energy - 10

4 Psychic Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
2 Double Colorless Energy


Natu is the best of the Hustle Belt users, having Delta Plus to give it an extra prize after taking a knockout. This is big news, as it means the opponent can't play the supposed '7-prize game', as Natu will close out the game after the second or third knockout is taken. Natu isn't without downsides as Psywave is completely reactive in nature, requiring the the opponent to have Energy on their active to deal damage. Luckily, as most decks need to attack to win and Natu generally isn't the lead this isn't a problem. Natu is excellent in the Buzzwole matchup, scoring OHKOs on the baby and taking out the GX after chip damage. The little bird also earns its wings in the Night March matchup, as all of their attackers are in OHKO range after attaching DCE (which they absolutely need) making it a very quick game, and Trashalanche decks will find themselves losing the prize trade to it.

Foongus is the other Hustler picked, and while it doesn't have the relevance Natu has, it certainly does have its uses. With the belt attached, it scores clean OHKOs on the likes of Blastoise, Greninja and Diancie PS. With help it can bring down Lycanroc GX, Greninja Break, Zygarde GX, Seismitoad EX and Keldeo EX. Not too shabby.

Latios is of great use in this deck, as not only does it bring valuable spread and a very relevant weakness, it also benefits from Dimension Valley to allow it to inflict spread for a single Energy and all of it is on a one prize attacker. Spread damage is of utmost importance to a Hustle Belt deck, as even through weakness they are generally just short of a knockout, and Latios is one of the best spread users in the game. Choice Band was included mainly for this bird and Landorus EX to ease the math.

Fighting weakness is big, and Landorus EX is a strong pick to pick on it with. It lacks Buzzwole's higher HP count but makes up for it by having a weakness which is harder to tech for. Lando gives Zoroark trouble as it sets up and will punish them hard if they carelessly bench Exeggcutes. For those who may wonder why the deck needs two Pokemon who do the exact same thing (Latios & Lando, I mean) the reason is because without weakness Zoroark will gradually pull ahead and win the match.

As for the support Pokemon, Necrozma GX is there solely to Black Ray GX for heavy spread damage (although it can technically be used for a one-time nuke as well) and Oranguru gets me more cards.

This is mostly a rough copy and things are bound to change, but it looks pretty cool and has potential.

 

[Perfect_Shot]

Finally got most of the cards on PTCGO, and got some testing done. Currently missing one of the Landorus EX and the Ace Spec, but I've made do. The deck thins very quickly, which surprised me as I was concerned I wouldn't be able to draw into what I need fast enough.

Latios is a god, and I don't regret having it at 4 at all. Has worked pretty flawlessly despite me not yet playing against a single meta deck to take advantage of it's typing. Natu works well and I get the Hustle Belt + Rainbow combo off more than I expected, although for whatever reason the game is hellbent on forcing me to lead it every single game, so I will undoubtedly have to bring it down to 2 (or just stop expecting consistent results from the game's terrible shuffler).

Haven't had a match against something where Foongus would be useful. Most of the cards it hits are either just support oriented or are fringe decks, will probably cut it, and I'll likely be thrown into games against Greninja players right afterwards, or some Seismitoad thing. Just a matter of what I use in it's place, maybe Seismitoads of my own as Volcanion is kind of annoying.

Considering dropping the Field Blowers entirely, no commonly used Stadium in the game gives this deck cause for concern and the only tool I would care to remove would be Fighting Fury Belt, which isn't terribly common.

So far so good, if I actually end up playing against some meta, things will really get underway.

 

[Serperior]

This looks like a fun deck, definition of a glass cannon.

I know you already have Dimension Valley in here, but consider Team Magma's Secret Base as well. This damages anybody that hits the field already, and you may not have to rely on Rainbow Energy to damage yourself. This also allows you to have 50 HP Pokémon, and I bet there are other one-Energy attackers that could smack for pretty big Weakness damage.

For Grass-type attackers: Combee from Plasma Storm could be big - 30 + 60 and it bounces back to the deck. Nincada from Dragons Exalted only does 10 but can prevent attacks on the next turn.

For Fighting-type attackers: Meditite from Primal Clash has a one-Energy attack that deals 20. (So does Mienfoo from Boundaries Crossed.)

The deck has a lot of moving parts and you need a lot to pull stuff off, but it'd be super fun. Good luck!

 

[Perfect_Shot]

Yeah I thought about Magma Base but spread is too prevalent and I didn't want to walk into a loss most games just because Buzzwole GX and randomly teched Latios SHL or the Tapu Koko promo are too common. Without it, I can use Jet Punches to my advantage to bring Natu & friends down to HB range without needing to burn a Rainbow every time I want to use them.

Thanks for posting, and yes the deck is very fun to play, if not challenging.