Standard Lurantis GX/Yveltal EX

[TCG_Destory]

This is a deck I had the idea to create, based on the two year old Mega Manectric/Yveltal deck. The strategy for this deck is to use Lurantis-GX's Flower Supply attack to power up Benched Yveltal-EX, among other Pokémon, and to perform an overall beatdown with Yveltal-EX's Evil Ball and Y Cyclone as well as with Lurantis-GX's Solar Blade. Choice Band is use to cause more damage that by default, in order to make the two-shot knockout easier as well as enabling occasional one-shot knockouts. A massive Energy count is run in this list for three reasons:

1. This is (at least partially) an Yveltal-EX deck, which had a history of doing well while running 12-13 Energy cards, that included 4 Double Colorless Energy.
2. I want to be able to discard as many Energy as I can in the early game, so drawing into many of them (generally) isn't a bad thing. Besides, the deck doesn't run through itself very quickly, so running so many Basic Energy is basically a way to nearly secure good Flower Supply plays despite that.
3. There has to be a good amount of Energy for both types. The reason for that is that I need Grass Energy to power up Lurantis-GX's attacks and Darkness Energy in bulk allows me to take full advantage of Altar of the Moone.

Now, as for results, I went 2-2-0 at a tournament I took that deck to on Friday, however the build was not the same. I actually changed it to what it currently is right after the tournament. I will take it to a League Cup today and be back with the results. I think I've gathered a pretty good list, and the deck also has a number of good matchups. Slow decks and decks with a major Grass weakness typically are that deck's favorable ones.

And now, here is my current decklist:

Pokémon - 12

4 Fomantis SM
3 Lurantis-GX SM
3 Yveltal-EX XY
1 Shaymin-EX ROS
1 Drampa-GX GUR

Trainer - 34

4 Altar of the Moone

2 Hex Maniac
2 Lysandre
3 N
4 Professor Sycamore

4 Choice Band
3 Switch
4 Trainers' Mail
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy - 14

7 Grass Energy
7 Darkness Energy

Note: The above decklist is neutral and tech less. Cards like one Hex Maniac or one Darkness Energy can be cut for specific techs such as Karen and Sudowoodo. The deck is also great (in theory) against Ability locks and mills.

 

[Zamuron]

Its a great idea, but needs to be polished a bit.
First of all, rayquaza from gur is much better id say, its a one prize attacker and when youre also playing dce, we can fix a problem.
The switches are bad, but its a dark deck and runs dce, so you can use zoroark and float stone, plus maybe zoroark break.
Trainers mail is also bad with garbodor running around, and also if you can afford, remove drampa for a tapu lele. Drampa is useless her, since we have no way of
damaging pokemon. This will make Space for one of supporters, like kukui, and lillie witch will fit in this deck that needs energy quick.

Anyways thats what i have to say, good luck with your deck!

 

[TCG_Destory]

Thanks for the reply. The League Cup results were not great, actually. The reasons for that are that I am new to this deck (first build was made 2 days ago, same with the build I posted and used in the League Cup), that the build was not optimal, which I know because I had trouble finding Pokémon or even drawing more often than it should be and that I got some pretty terrible matchups (Quad Metagross and Mega Rayquaza among them). Anyway, I definitely don't think the deck idea is bad, but I totally agree on that I should polish it. Dropping a Darkness Energy (going to the magical Yveltal-EX count of 13 total Energy cards) and an Altar of the Moone are considered changes. Trainers' Mail could also be cut partially of totally, and so could be Drampa-GX (only used the Big Wheel once, never used it otherwise, but was planning to use Berserk in combination with free Retreat and Lurantis-GX's first attack). Instead, a fourth N or a Professor Kukui could be added, as well as a Pokémon Fan Club, a Rescue Stretcher and one or two Fighting Fury Belt. Other options I consider include Professor's Letter, to find a specific Energy card or, more commonly, to get them into the discard pile more easily, and Skyla, to get the Item card I'm looking for rather consistently without using Trainers' Mail. Maybe I could build and try out the following decklist:

Pokémon - 12

4 Fomantis SM
3 Lurantis-GX SM
3 Yveltal-EX XY
2 Shaymin-EX ROS

Trainer - 35

3 Altar of the Moone

2 Hex Maniac
2 Lysandre
3 N
1 Pokémon Fan Club
2 Skyla
4 Professor Sycamore

4 Choice Band
1 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Professor's Letter
3 Switch
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy - 13

7 Grass Energy
6 Darkness Energy

 

[TCG_Destory]

Its a great idea, but needs to be polished a bit.
First of all, rayquaza from gur is much better id say, its a one prize attacker and when youre also playing dce, we can fix a problem.
The switches are bad, but its a dark deck and runs dce, so you can use zoroark and float stone, plus maybe zoroark break.
Trainers mail is also bad with garbodor running around, and also if you can afford, remove drampa for a tapu lele. Drampa is useless her, since we have no way of
damaging pokemon. This will make Space for one of supporters, like kukui, and lillie witch will fit in this deck that needs energy quick.

Anyways thats what i have to say, good luck with your deck!

Forgot to mention it, but Double Colorless Energy is not runnable in Lurantis/Yveltal because the deck revolves around accelerating and attacking with Basic Energy, which also provides immunity to Drampa-GX's Righteous Edge and such. Therefore, there has to be Basic Energy only in the deck's Energy lineup.

 

[Xeynid]

Why does the deck have to revolve around basic energy?

The only reason you NEED basic energy is because you need dark energy for yveltal and your accelerator only hits basic energy, but that doesn't mean you CAN'T run DCE's.

If you get rid of lurantis entirely, then you can bump up to 9 darkness energies and 4 DCE's, and you'll be even more likely to hit the dark energies you need for yveltal while also having access to Rayquaza, who is faster and less risky than lurantis.

Lurantis/Yveltal revolves around basic energy because lurantis uses basic energy, but you could replace lurantis with rayquaza, and ray/yveltal would probably work fine.

 

[TCG_Destory]

The deck uses purely Basic Energy for two reasons:

1. It is not focused on Yveltal-EX. Lurantis-GX and Yveltal-EX are just about as important of attackers in this deck. Solar Blade deals a solid 120 damage and heals 30 damage from Lurantis-GX, which is great against Tapu Koko and Team Magma's Secret Base. This attacker also destroys Greninja, which Yveltal-EX typically struggles against (once you exclude the Garbotoxin Garbodor), Lycanroc-GX and Lapras-GX. On top of that, 210 is a hard number for most decks to hit even nowadays. For example, Metagross-GX would need a Choice Band and Three Dhelmise, Zoroark could do it with a Choice Band and a full Bench on your side, but only if the damage from Team Magma's Secret Base still is on the Lurantis-GX and Garbodor needs you to have 9 Items (or 11 without the Choice Band) in the discard pile to be able to Knock it Out in one shot. Also, Chloroscythe GX can hit for 180 damage at some point during the game, which is an important number in the current meta. Choice Band boosts both Yveltal-EX and Lurantis-GX, and Lurantis-GX's two attacks add up into a two-hit knockout this way.

2. Running Special Energy is currently dangerous because Enhanced Hammer and Drampa-GX are basically staples. Any deck can run them. Rainbow Energy would not be a great idea neither because 200 is a number that can be hit by typical 180 attackers with a Professor Kukui and then again, it doesn't work with Lurantis-GX. All in all, I personally don't see a reason to run Special Energy in a deck that doesn't need to.

I have made some change to the list, based on my personal experience with the deck as well as inclusions I've thought of making to improve it, which will be tested as soon as possible. Here is that decklist:

Pokémon - 12

4 Fomantis SM
3 Lurantis-GX SM
3 Yveltal-EX XY
2 Shaymin-EX ROS

Trainer - 35

3 Altar of the Moone
1 Parallel City

2 Hex Maniac
2 Lysandre
3 N
1 Pokémon Fan Club
1 Professor Kukui
4 Professor Sycamore

4 Choice Band
2 Professor's Letter
1 Super Rod
3 Switch
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy - 13

7 Grass Energy
6 Darkness Energy