Standard Zoroark-GX/Lucario-GX

[HouchinsDJ]

Hey PokéBeach! I wanted to share what I think will be one of the best decks in the Standard format once Lucario-GX becomes tournament legal. I was a little skeptical of Lucario-GX when it was announced. Aura Strike looked like a strong attack but I wasn't sure how reliable it would be because of it's Evolution requirement, and Cyclone Kick, while able to hit relevant numbers with Choice Band and Strong Energy, requires three manual Energy attachments, making it a bit awkward. Cantankerous Beatdown GX is a strong attack, copied from Tauros-GX, being able to punish your opponent by returning the damage it has taken three-fold. Overall, I thought that the card had potential, I just wasn't sure how much. I felt like it needed to be paired with something that compensated for it's weaknesses.

Enter Zoroark-GX. I know... not the most innovative partner. The consistency that Zoroark-GX provides is unparalleled, and Lucario-GX needs consistency. Zoroark-GX also acts as a solid back-up attacker that resists Lucario's weakness, and only needing a single Double Colorless Energy to attack means that I can concentrate attaching Energy to Lucario-GX, allowing me to use Cyclone Kick more often.

I built this list and have been testing it all weekend with fantastic results. So far I have found that this deck has no auto-losses. Buzzwole-GX can give you problems if they hit early Max Elixirs and you have a bad start, but I think any deck struggles against Buzzwole-GX in that scenario. This deck is ran very similar to Zoroark-GX/Lycanroc-GX decks, but with the strategy of Golisopod-GX thrown in. Being able to Acerola damaged Lucario-GX to deny prizes and hit big numbers for a single Energy is frustrating for your opponent. You want to have a Riolu on the bench at all times so when you Acerola your active you have a Riolu ready to promote and evolve. Plus, being able to OHKO the most relevant Pokémon in the game (Zoroark-GX) for a single Energy instantly elevates Lucario-GX to top tier status in my book.

As always, I'm open to suggestions. Anything you would change? Have you tried this deck out with different results? Would you play Lucario-GX differently?


****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 19

* 4 Zorua PR-SM SM83
* 4 Zoroark-GX PR-SM SM84
* 4 Riolu UPR 66
* 3 Lucario-GX PR-SM SM100
* 1 Mew-EX PR-XY XY126
* 3 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 137

##Trainer Cards - 31

* 3 Cynthia UPR 148
* 3 N NVI 92
* 3 Brigette BKT 134
* 3 Acerola BUS 142
* 4 Guzma BUS 143
* 4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
* 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109
* 2 Field Blower GRI 125
* 2 Evosoda GEN 62
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 1 Float Stone BKT 137

##Energy - 10

* 4 Double Colorless Energy SLG 69
* 4 Strong Energy FCO 115
* 2 Fighting Energy 6

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

 

[gumball51321]

Question: did you watch Mahone's stream? Also, Super Scoop Up is bae <3

 

[Eltyr]

My dude since you play puzzles I think a devolution spray may come in handy, also i'd cut one guzma. Cut one double colorless for a fight I'd say, you wanna attack with Lucario most of the time anyway.
I'd also say 1 energy lotto or 1 special charge.

 

[Chicken Nugget Master]

I've been testing Lucario since before it came out, and I have never needed scoop up or devo spray. Also, a 3-2 line is much more advisable that a 4-3 line, otherwise you'll just have multiple Lucario clogging up your bench doing nothing. I do like your list, but here are my two cents.

-1 Riolu
-1 Lucario GX
-1 Strong Energy
-1 Fighting Energy
-1 Guzma

+1 Baby Zoroark
+1 Choice Band
+1 Professor Kukui
+1 Devoured Field
+1 Parallel City

By decreasing the Lucario count, naturally the energy count should decrease as well.
4 Guzma is too many as Elytr said.

Adding a third choice band makes you more likely to hit them, which is very handy as Band + Strong Energy kills Leles.
Baby Zoroark gives you a 1 prize attacker and makes swapping in your active Pokemon a lot easier.
Kukui and Devoured Field help you reach those numbers that are just out of reach otherwise.
Parallel City is really nice to set back your opponent to give you more time to draw what you need.

An important thing to note about this deck is that it isn't Zoroark/Golisopod, and it isn't Zoroark/Lycanroc. It is a different archetype that shows traits of the other variants, but is new and works in a different way.


I hope this gives you the success you're looking for, as it has worked very well for me so far.

 

[LifePartTwo]

You think this deck has tournament success viability? How does it fair against new two? It seems like it can revenge ko without much setup which buzzwole can struggle with.

 

[gumball51321]

You think this deck has tournament success viability? How does it fair against new two? It seems like it can revenge ko without much setup which buzzwole can struggle with.

Mewtwo can't OHKO Lucario to begin with. You only do 80 to Lucario, or 140 with a Band. And because of how Lucario functions, healing off would be easy. Oh, and Strong+Evolution OHKOs Mewtwo.
Why not play a Buzzwole? Sets numbers up, It's a chunky basic, and Acerola puts in work for it. Speaking of which, test 4 Acerola and see how it functions, cause' it looks like it would be great. Im surprised you play no E-Hammer in a Zoroark deck, since that's usually the norm. But I guess you either forgot or couldn't find the space.

 

[LifePartTwo]

My bad. I meant mew ex.

 

[HouchinsDJ]

Thank you for the feedback! I've made a few changes but will definitely look at some of the suggestions mentioned here, especially reducing the Lucario-GX line.

You think this deck has tournament success viability? How does it fair against new two? It seems like it can revenge ko without much setup which buzzwole can struggle with.

I think this archetype could easily become the new BDIF once Lucario-GX is legal for tournaments. Being able to OHKO a Zoroark-GX for a single Energy instantly makes this card top tier. Being able to OHKO a Tapu Lele-GX for one Strong Energy and a Choice Band is also very relevant. Mew-EX is a problem, but you can revenge KO it with another Lucario-GX easily for a single Energy. It also has a great GX attack that can OHKO anything and it's Cyclone Kick attack hits relevant numbers with Strong Energy and Choice Band. When paired with Zoroark-GX, you now have insane draw support and a solid backup attacker that resists Lucario-GX's weakness. I expect to this deck everywhere very soon.

 

[gumball51321]

Thank you for the feedback! I've made a few changes but will definitely look at some of the suggestions mentioned here, especially reducing the Lucario-GX line.



I think this archetype could easily become the new BDIF once Lucario-GX is legal for tournaments. Being able to OHKO a Zoroark-GX for a single Energy instantly makes this card top tier. Being able to OHKO a Tapu Lele-GX for one Strong Energy and a Choice Band is also very relevant. Mew-EX is a problem, but you can revenge KO it with another Lucario-GX easily for a single Energy. It also has a great GX attack that can OHKO anything and it's Cyclone Kick attack hits relevant numbers with Strong Energy and Choice Band. When paired with Zoroark-GX, you now have insane draw support and a solid backup attacker that resists Lucario-GX's weakness. I expect to this deck everywhere very soon.

But do you really expect to manually set up a Cyclone Kick? I feel like agro Lucario/support would be better for anything relating to Cyclone Kick. TBH, It's a worse Golisopod, but with much more support. I mean, it IS a great tradeoff for what you're getting, but literally ANYTHING that isn't Zoroark can almost certainly challenge as a 50-50 matchup, which is of course not bad by any means, but it can be a factor in how some matches are played. To be perfectly honest, I still find Lucario somewhat underwhelming and don't expect much out of it other than a Golisopod that OHKOs Zoroark, IF you evolve your Riolu that turn. Now, once Diancie◇ is printed, it'll be a different story, since a Strong, a Regirock, Diancie, and a Band make it do 200, which if you Jet Punched(which an agro Lucario should be playing) last turn, you knock every currently relevant Pokemon out. I think people are sucking up the card because Mahone played it in a stream where it bricked half the time and lost steam towards the end of the game in the other half.

 

[Chicken Nugget Master]

But do you really expect to manually set up a Cyclone Kick? I feel like agro Lucario/support would be better for anything relating to Cyclone Kick. TBH, It's a worse Golisopod, but with much more support. I mean, it IS a great tradeoff for what you're getting, but literally ANYTHING that isn't Zoroark can almost certainly challenge as a 50-50 matchup, which is of course not bad by any means, but it can be a factor in how some matches are played. To be perfectly honest, I still find Lucario somewhat underwhelming and don't expect much out of it other than a Golisopod that OHKOs Zoroark, IF you evolve your Riolu that turn. Now, once Diancie◇ is printed, it'll be a different story, since a Strong, a Regirock, Diancie, and a Band make it do 200, which if you Jet Punched(which an agro Lucario should be playing) last turn, you knock every currently relevant Pokemon out. I think people are sucking up the card because Mahone played it in a stream where it bricked half the time and lost steam towards the end of the game in the other half.

I have manually set up Cyclone Kicks, but only after I used Aura Strike, attached another energy for Cantankerous Beatdown, and then attached yet another energy so I could then use Cyclone Kick. That will be the only scenario where it will ever happen though. Considering the list I play only runs 8 Energy (4 DCE, 3 Strong and 1 Fighting) it hurts when your three attachments eventually get discarded as I tend to have to Puzzle them back or dig for them. You don't always rely on Lucario to do your damage for you, Zoroark is still a very good attacker and can hit 180 when you need it to (Devoured Field, Kukui and Choice Band), also not forgetting Baby Zoroark can hit for max 220, which can really set your opponent back especially if they weren't expecting it.

 

[HouchinsDJ]

But do you really expect to manually set up a Cyclone Kick? I feel like agro Lucario/support would be better for anything relating to Cyclone Kick. TBH, It's a worse Golisopod, but with much more support. I mean, it IS a great tradeoff for what you're getting, but literally ANYTHING that isn't Zoroark can almost certainly challenge as a 50-50 matchup, which is of course not bad by any means, but it can be a factor in how some matches are played. To be perfectly honest, I still find Lucario somewhat underwhelming and don't expect much out of it other than a Golisopod that OHKOs Zoroark, IF you evolve your Riolu that turn. Now, once Diancie◇ is printed, it'll be a different story, since a Strong, a Regirock, Diancie, and a Band make it do 200, which if you Jet Punched(which an agro Lucario should be playing) last turn, you knock every currently relevant Pokemon out. I think people are sucking up the card because Mahone played it in a stream where it bricked half the time and lost steam towards the end of the game in the other half.

I did not watch Mahone's stream so I have no clue about anything related to that. I do find myself using Cyclone Kick more often than one would think, and I didn't say that Cyclone Kick is what made the card great, just that it's an attack that can hit relevant numbers. @Chicken Nugget Master said it best in terms of when you usually use it. People tend to not attack into Lucario unless they do chip damage or can outright KO it to avoid getting GX'd. That can sometimes work in your favor allowing Lucario to survive an extra turn or two. I think the hype surrounding the card is warranted. You said yourself, it's great against the most relevant card in the format and 50-50 against just about anything else. You can't get much better odds in this format.