Lucario EX / Primal Groudon EX / Garbodor

[Ribenar]

Pokemon: 13

• 
  3 Lucario EX
  2 Groudon EX PCL
  2 Primal Groudon EX
  2 Landorus FFI
  2 Trubbish LTR
  2 Garbodor LTR

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 36

• 
  3 Korrina
  3 Professor Juniper
  2 Xerosic
  2 N
  2 Lysandre
  1 Teammates
  1 Skyla
  3 Vs Seeker
  2 Groudon Spirit Link
  2 Muscle Band
  1 Sparkling Robe
  1 Float Stone
  1 Focus Sash
  1 Scramble Switch
  1 Switch
  1 Professor's Letter
  1 Energy Retrieval
  1 Startling Megaphone
  1 Enhanced Hammer
  1 Ultra Ball
  1 Tool Retrieval
  2 Fighting Stadium
  2 Scorched Earth

Energy: 11

• 
  7 Fighting Energy
  4 Strong Energy

Strategy:
The basic idea is to lead with Lucario and hit hard, hit fast. Setup Primal Groudon on the bench safely with Barrier, and either scramble switch him in or use Landorus to accelerate energy. I have fewer than normal draw supporters but I feel Korrina let's me get away with this. With Korrina, I go for a wide variety of items to keep my deck flexible. Sparkling robe and 2 Xerosics are there for Toad. Tool retriever/focus sash to protect from a Flareon or Night March OHKO.

Possible Changes
There's three cards I feel I could drop. Skyla - the main use of this is to access a stadium. But I may as well drop it and add a 5th stadium. Xerosic - maybe drop 1 of these. Teammates - this card is just too situational I feel.

So with the two open card spots, I had two ideas. The first was to add a 4th Lucario EX, and a 8th fighting energy or another draw supporter. With my low number of basic pokemon this would give me better odds of starting with Lucario, and adding consistency with another energy or draw supporter. My other idea was to add 2 Head Ringers (I got wrecked by a VirGen deck at league, and this seemed like my best option to deal with it).

Let me know what you think!

 

[cardgjammer]

RE: Lucario EX / Primal Groudon

First, FS is not a good choice for P-Groudon-ex, due to the time it takes to setup P-groudon. Since you cannot attach more than 1 energy from the hand per turn, and P-Groudon's only attack need 4 attachments to work, you can replace it w/ Shrine of Memories to allow it to use its non-primal form's rip claw to attempt to bide time by means of forcing flips to trigger opposing energy discard until it is ready to use Gaia Volcano. All it needs is 2 energies to do some form of attack if going the shrine route.

Here is a full list of suggestions:

Deletions:
-1 Xerosic(Startling megaphone, lysandre and hammer? Can you say more than 1 of xerosic is unnecessary as there are backup cards in your deck already that could take his role in case he is prized?)
-1 Skyla(Korrina? Unnecessary as Korrina can pick up VS Seeker, which can pick up teammates from discard, and you can still get your stadium that way, if your pokemon was KO'd on your opponent's last turn)
-1 Sparkling robe(if you have a switch, since status is cured upon the active returning to bench...)
-1 Float Stone(rotating out in september? Useful now, but if it's going to be rotated out of standard in 2015-16...)
-1 Energy Retrieval(there's now a card that can get all your special/strong energy, as well as all your cards, out of discard at a cost...)
-2 FS(reason above)

Additions:
+1 Juniper
+1 N/Shauna(depending on when the deck is to be used, whether its before rotation or after rotation)
+1 Battle Compressor(the ability to scoop at least one fighting energy in discard and a supporter as well from discard by searching them out and discarding them when found is critical)
+1 Ultra Ball(in case 1 ultra ball is prized...)
+1 Lysandre's Trump Card(all cards in discard back into your deck over just two energy back in hand? Beats energy retrieval, but at the cost of your opponent doing the same)
+2 Shrine of Memories(P-Groudon needs some way to make up for its high attack cost, even if that way involves an attack known by its pre-rev form that P-Groudon can't use without the shrine)...

What do you think?

 

[Rafelker]

I disagree about the Shrine of memories, one of P-Groudons greatest strengths is he can't be Lysandred. Therefore, you have time to set up. I'd replace 2 of the Lucario with Hawlucha so you don't lose prizes early. Otherwise I agree with Jammer.

 

[Ribenar]

The shrine of memories is an interesting point I never thought of. But as Rafelker said I feel safe with primal groudon on the bench. The float stone will definitely stay (for Garbodor).

I'm not sure about trump card, but I will try it out. The added benefits of using it over energy retrieval are also applied to your opponent. Although maybe there's advantageous times to use trump card, where its more beneficial to me than my opponent? I don't know, I haven't used it before or given much thought to it during a match.

Good point with Teammates. I didn't consider sending things to discard as a means of accessing them. The 2 xerosics are mainly an answer to the overwhelming amount of toad decks, but I'll try rolling with just 1. Good point on switch/sparkling robe as well.

Jammer, if I were to take out Xerosic, Skyla, Sparkling Robe, and Energy Retrieval, which 4 additions would you suggest? Trump card, battle compreesor, ultra ball, and a juniper/shauna?

 

[cardgjammer]

The shrine of memories is an interesting point I never thought of. But as Rafelker said I feel safe with primal groudon on the bench. The float stone will definitely stay (for Garbodor).

I'm not sure about trump card, but I will try it out. The added benefits of using it over energy retrieval are also applied to your opponent. Although maybe there's advantageous times to use trump card, where its more beneficial to me than my opponent? I don't know, I haven't used it before or given much thought to it during a match.

Good point with Teammates. I didn't consider sending things to discard as a means of accessing them. The 2 xerosics are mainly an answer to the overwhelming amount of toad decks, but I'll try rolling with just 1. Good point on switch/sparkling robe as well.

Jammer, if I were to take out Xerosic, Skyla, Sparkling Robe, and Energy Retrieval, which 4 additions would you suggest? Trump card, battle compreesor, ultra ball, and a juniper/shauna?

Suggested additions:

1. Trump Card
2. Battle Compressor
3. Ultra Ball
4. Shauna

P.S. I wish there was room for one more juniper, given there's 3 listed, but since adding one more on top of a card that equalizes the number of shuffle-hand-and-draw cards with the number of your discard-hand-and-draw cards would mean your deck is 1 card over the "60 limit", not to mention that you have 2 N there, so adding one shauna as your fourth addition would be a consolation addition to fill the 60th slot of your deck... After the rotation, since Garbodor will possibly be out too, you might want to revisit this deck then, and knowing that september 2015 will give decks more room, it will become easier to add that fourth juniper(or technically sycamore, since after the rotation, Juniper will be out, and the only way you can use juniper's effect for using her will be to use sycamore instead, since the effect of the two are the same: Discard hand and draw seven.). But what cards will you use instead post-rotation? The answer rests on your shoulders... Ah, the uncertainty of the future...