The Circle of Lifesplosion — The Stage 2 Deck of Expanded
Hello! By the time you’re reading this, I should either be in Dallas or on my way to it, but here’s one last guide to an Expanded deck, in time for the event.
Something I like about the Expanded format is that you get a variety of very different strategies. There are aggressive decks like [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card] and Archie’s Blastoise that just Prize race the opponent, lock decks like [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card], and control options going from [card name=”Wailord-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”38″ c=”name”][/card] to [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card]. [card name=”Durant” set=”Noble Victories” no=”83″ c=”name”][/card] wins through actively milling the opponent, [card name=”Greninja” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] takes multiple KOs in one turn, [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] wins through establishing a slow, unbeatable threat, and we even used to have a pure combo deck through [card name=”Unown” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] DAMAGE. Sure, it’s debatable whether some of these strategies are healthy for the game — I’m not a big fan of Zoroark-GX / Exodia, personally — but there’s no denying that having a vast card pool offers many options to every type of player, even if not all of these options are currently top tier.
This brings me to today’s deck, one of the most unique in the game — a deck that basically exists thanks to a technicality. [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] can evolve into any Stage 1 Pokemon, and this includes Stage 1 Pokemon that were not supposed to evolve from a Basic — I’m talking about the evolutions of Revived Pokemon. The best of those (apart from [card name=”Archeops” set=”Noble Victories” no=”67″ c=”name”][/card], which is banned) is [card name=”Cradily” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card], a Pokemon that can cheat Stage 2 Pokemon into play with its Lifeplosion attack.
In this article, I’ll discuss how this weird combination gave life to a new archetype, give my list for the deck and explain how to approach various popular matchups.
1. Deck Building
Lifesplosion is a truly unique attack that’s finally playable, more than five years after the release of [card name=”Cradily” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”4″ c=”from”][/card]. It can potentially set up several Stage 2 Pokemon in a single turn. That said, although one might be tented to build the whole deck around Cradily, it’s not advisable. You can only play one Ditto Prism Star and there’s no getting it back if it’s KO’d, so it would be extremely risky to build a deck that depends on Cradily to work. What’s more, Cradily’s 120 HP is not much, so you need to use Lifesplosion as soon as you can, even if there’s only one Energy attached to Cradily. If you wait until you’ve attached more Energy to it, you run the risk of getting it KO’d via [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] — again, because Ditto is a Prism Star card, there’s no way to recover it. Finally, you also need to manage your Bench space.
[cardimg name=”Sceptile-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”22″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
These issues all point in one direction: Cradily needs a partner. The best answer seems to be the [card name=”Sceptile-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card] line, for multiple reasons. [card name=”Grovyle” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card] is an amazing Pokemon, with an Ability that makes it far more reliable to set up Stage 2 Pokemon in such a fast format. Sceptile-GX’s Mach Cut is very efficient against Zoroark-GX because it slows them down, while its 230 HP makes it impossible to OHKO. Power of Nature [card name=”Sceptile” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] is a great tech card against Ultra Beasts, and helps a lot against [card name=”Buzzwole-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card].
With its inclusion, the deck becomes a Sceptile-GX deck, that can hold its own even if Ditto or Cradily is prized. If they’re not, though, you can use Grovyle to search out Cradily on turn two and set up a Stage 2 Pokemon.
Which Stage 2 Pokemon, though? Although you can use Lifesplosion to directly set up a Sceptile-GX, it’s not the best use of the attack. You can actually use the opportunity to include some of the powerful Stage 2 Pokemon that are revealed in every set and make you think “too bad it’s not feasible to tech a Stage 2 line in a deck”. Some examples include [card name=”Dusknoir” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] BCR and [card name=”Magnezone” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] PLS. Another very powerful card that makes an unexpected comeback is [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card], whose Ability is extremely disruptive to many Expanded decks. Thanks to Cradily, Vileplume can easily be set up on turn two.
Although the idea circulated before his performance, Nikolas Campbell’s top 64 list at Anaheim Regionals gives a basis for the deck. The key takeaways are:
4/4/2-1 Line of Sceptile
The heavy focus on this line is logical given that [card name=”Grovyle” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card]’s Ability is the deck’s engine. Sceptile-GX is not an amazing attacker, especially in Expanded, but combined with other disruption cards, it does a decent job taking KOs, even if it’s not in as explosive a fashion as decks like [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card].
A Smaller Line of Vileplume
Although [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] can be set up through Lifesplosion, you can also evolve it naturally from Oddish. This double approach ensures that you can still set up Irritating Pollen even if you can’t Lifesplosion. It also makes it much harder for an opponent to get rid of the Item lock. To do so, they must KO Cradily and Vileplume. If they KO Vileplume first, Cradily can set up another one before they have a chance to use Items. Therefore, they need to first KO Cradily, and then Vileplume. However, when Cradily is gone, you can set up another Vileplume naturally, so that if the opponent KO Vileplume, they’ll still have to face another one. It will be very hard for them to use Guzma thrice to Knock Out each of your Bench sitters, given that they don’t have access to [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card].
A Heavy Emphasis on Supporters over Items
Given that Vileplume is an integral part of the strategy, the deck doesn’t want to run too many Items. Instead, it plays much more Supporters, including [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] to use them over and over.
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2. List
Here is the list I’m currently favoring. Some of the changes that were made to the original list should be credited to Frank Percic, who originally brought my attention to the deck. In any case, I’ll explain the point of all changes to the list, as well as each card’s utility.
[decklist name=”Cradily” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Magnezone” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”46″][pokemon amt=”25″]2x [card name=”Sceptile-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”22″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Sceptile” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”10″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Sceptile” set=”Primal Clash” no=”8″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Grovyle” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”21″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Treecko” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”8″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”6″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Gloom” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”2″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Oddish” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”1″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cradily” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”4″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Girafarig” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Magnezone” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”46″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”26″]3x [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”N” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Colress” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”118″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tate & Liza” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”148″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Steven” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”90″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Brock’s Grit” set=”Evolutions” no=”74″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”AZ” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Gladion” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Life Forest Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”180″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”9″]8x [card name=”Grass Energy” set=”EX Emerald” no=”101″ c=”deck2″ amt=”8″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Boost Energy Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
One Sceptile (Nurture and Heal)
There are two reasons why this card is in the deck. The first is that I love using an evolution line with cards from different eras (such as Garbage Collection [card name=”Trubbish” set=”Noble Victories” no=”48″ c=”name”][/card] with Trashalanche [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card]), because it feels like you’re genuinely discovering combinations rather than just using those that were obviously created to go together. The second reason is that [card name=”Sceptile” set=”Primal Clash” no=”8″ c=”name”][/card] gives the deck a way to accelerate Energy. You can attach two Energy in one turn to Sceptile-GX, which is useful against decks like that would otherwise try to discard all your Energy with [card name=”Plumeria” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] loops. Nurture and Heal also allows you to heal 30 damage when you attach an Energy. By itself, it’s not much, but combined with [card name=”Life Forest Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”180″ c=”name”][/card], it can allow Sceptile-GX to survive one more turn than expected.
One Vileplume (Disgusting Pollen)
[cardimg name=”Vileplume” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”6″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
This is a perfect inclusion in a deck that already plays Oddish and Gloom. [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”6″ c=”name”][/card] autowins matchups against full-Basic decks such as [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] and Night March. If you’re sure that your opponent doesn’t play Evolution Pokemon, you can simply set up Vileplume, whether manually or through Lifesplosion, and eventually win by attacking with it. Also remember that Disgusting Pollen isn’t an effect on Vileplume, it actually prevents Basic Pokemon from attacking, so even support attacks like [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]’s Resource Management can’t be used.
One Magnezone
This is the perfect Stage 2 Pokemon to play in this deck. Dual Brains is all the more powerful in a deck that runs 18 Supporters! A particularly strong play you can do is use Lusamine to get back Lusamine and another Supporter, then play that Supporter. This way, you don’t have to wait a turn to re-use your Supporter of choice, whether it’s [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] or something else.
One Girafarig
Sceptile-GX can play the stalling game depending on the matchup, and Girafarig is a very useful card when you do so. Against other slow decks, you can use Get Lost to remove key Supporters like [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card], preventing your opponent from using any kind of infinite loop. Girafarig also puts work against decks that rely on the discard such as Night March and [card name=”Vespiquen” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card].
Three Lusamine
Prizing a [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] could be an issue if you only play two. The third copy makes your engine much more resilient. It allows you to discard key Supporters with [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”84″ c=”name”][/card] in the early game without issue.
Two Brigette
[card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] is the ideal turn one Supporter and the deck can have trouble when it doesn’t hit it. The second copy acts as insurance.
One Faba
This card is invaluable in several matchups. Many writers, including myself, have already sang its praises, but to be short, there are two main uses to it. The first is to remove Special Energy from the game forever, especially in [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] matchups. The second is to remove Tools, especially one placed on a [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card]. Faba is the only way you have (outside of Knocking Out the Garbodor, of course) of reinstating Item lock if Garbotoxin is active.
One Tate & Liza
Once again, this is a card that has two uses. It prevents your Pokemon from getting locked up Active — a common issue given both Vileplume’s importance and its Retreat Cost — and also acts as a draw Supporter in a pinch. [card name=”Olympia” set=”Generations” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] would be a consideration as well in order to add some healing potential to the deck, but having one more way to draw cards is more important. Consistency is key, especially in a long tournament!
One Steven
This card combines very well with Magnezone. When Dual Brains is active, you can Steven for a Supporter, then play that Supporter. Essentially, if Lusamine allows you to use any Supporter in your discard, Steven allows you to use any Supporter in your deck. Being able to search for an Energy is very valuable as well.
One Brock’s Grit
This allows you to recover your resources infinitely, in combination with Lusamine. It’s a key card in slower matchups in order not to get ran out of Energy. In faster matchups, you mainly use it to shuffle a Vileplume line back in the deck when it’s KO’d in order to set up the next one, or to get back some Pokemon you discarded with Professor Juniper early.
One AZ
A versatile card that can be used to heal damage or to get back a Pokemon in the hand in order to free a spot on the Bench. An ideal use of AZ is to get back [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] to the hand in order to set up another Pokemon in its stead. This can be slow and should not be prioritized if you’re under pressure, though. AZ also acts as a switch card if necessary, though if your Vileplume was brought Active, it’s not recommended to get it back to the hand because it would unlock Items for your opponent.
Four Pokemon Communication, Zero Ultra Ball
I think [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Black and White” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] is much better than [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] in this deck. Both are cards you can only play in the early game, when Item lock isn’t in place yet. It can be hard to find two cards to discard to Ultra Ball, whereas with so many Pokemon in the deck, you often find one to put back into the deck. The two most important cards you get with Communication are Tapu Lele-GX on turn one (for [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card]) and [card name=”Grovyle” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card] on turn two, and Grovyle lets you get other Pokemon, so it’s not a big deal at all to shuffle back a Vileplume or Sceptile-GX into the deck on turn one or two. [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Black and White” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] can also actively help you by putting back Magnezone or Vileplume in the deck so you can get them with Lifesplosion.
Two Silent Lab
[cardimg name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
[card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] is still an amazing card since it shuts down many common Pokemon. It doesn’t have a single important use, but helps in many situations. It gives you a Bench spot by shutting down [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card]’s Roadblock, it prevents [card name=”Wobbuffet” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] from bothering you, it makes [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Exeggcute” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card] useless, and so on. Just be careful, you don’t want to play it on turn one since it would prevent your own Ditto from evolving.
3. How to Play the Deck
The way to play the deck depends on the matchup, which I’ll cover in the next section. As a general rule, though, your goal in the early game is to set up your Pokemon: ideally, you want to have two Treecko, a Ditto and an Oddish in play on turn one, as well as an Energy on Ditto. On turn two, you can use a [card name=”Grovyle” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card] to search out another Grovyle, and that second Grovyle to look for either Gloom or Cradily, retreat to Cradily, and Lifesplosion to get either Vileplume or Magnezone depending on the matchup. From them on, you just need to use Grovyle to look for the Pokemon you’re missing to complete your setup.
Some sequencing tips: On turn two, if you have a Grovyle (or Pokemon Communication to search it out) and a draw Supporter, you should get the Grovyle, evolve, and play your Supporter before using Sunshine Grace. This way, you can use Sunshine Grace to look for whatever you need afterwards. For example, if you Sunshine Grace for the second Grovyle and then for Cradily, you could miss out on Gloom (your board would look like: Grovyle, Grovyle, Cradily, Oddish). On the other hand, if you play down a Supporter, you can get the desired board of Grovyle, Grovyle, Cradily, Gloom by topdecking any of Cradily, Gloom, or second Grovyle and using Sunshine Grace to look for the missing pieces.
As much as possible, try to keep a Grovyle in play without evolving it. Since you can Sunshine Grace at any point to look for a Sceptile, there’s not much of a downside doing so. Keep Grovyle in play allows you to use Sunshine Grace every turn to thin out your deck and improve your draws. It’s also very useful if you have a Pokemon KO’d and/or get hit by [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card], since you can gather your resources again thanks to it. It takes three turns of Sunshine Grace to find a new Oddish, Gloom and Vileplume, but since games tend to go slow without Items, three turns is not that much.
Another benefit of Sunshine Grace is that you can look in your deck before playing [card name=”Gladion” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card]. Most of the time, you’ll figure out pretty early whether some key cards (Ditto, Cradily, Magnezone, Girafarig or Faba in some matchups) are prized. However, Gladion doesn’t only get these key cards, it can also get whatever you need. For example, if you need an Energy, you can use Sunshine Grace to count whether you have one prized, and depending on the answer, decide to play Gladion or a draw Supporter. Obviously, in an ideal world, you’d figure out all your Prizes, including unremarkable cards like Energy, on your first search, but that’s not realistic outside of TCGO, unless your memory is amazing!
The downside to keeping an unevolved Grovyle in play is that it can get KO’d much easier than a Sceptile or Sceptile-GX. However, this is not a very big risk in most cases. Without access to [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], your opponent only has limited access to [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], and they’ll use it on priority targets like [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card].
4. Matchups
Zoroark-GX / Garbodor
This matchup is pretty close. If you set up correctly, you should win, as the combination of Item lock, Mach Cut and [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] will prove too strong for your opponent to overcome. It should also be noted that Trashalanche is basically useless in this matchup given how few Items Sceptile plays. The issue is that a good Zoroark-GX / Garbodor player will find many ways to disrupt your setup, from [card name=”Sudowoodo” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] to Garbotoxin to [card name=”Red Card” set=”XY” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card]. Basically, Sceptile / Vileplume can encounter several hurdles in its setup, such as not hitting Brigette turn one, whiffing the Grovyle on turn two, having unfortunate Prizes, and so on. In short, there are multiple ways that a game can go wrong, and Zoroark / Garbodor is uniquely suited to capitalize on any weakness of its opponent.
In a normal game, though, you’ll try to Item lock your opponent whereas they’ll go for the Ability lock. You can go from Ability lock to Item lock by using [card name=”Faba” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] on Garbodor’s Tool, and they can use [card name=”Klefki” set=”Steam Siege” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card] to activate Garbotoxin for one turn. If they have a second Garbodor in play, they can actually use this turn to play down a Tool on it, keep the Ability lock in play for the following turns and forcing you to Faba again. In some situations, though, it’s better to have Ability lock than Item lock in play. This is especially true in the endgame, if you need to [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] them and hope they don’t draw a [card name=”Double Colorless Energy” set=”Shining Legends” no=”69″ c=”name”][/card]. Without Trade, it’s not guaranteed they’ll find it.
Zoroark-GX / Exodia
[cardimg name=”Girafarig” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”94″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
A difficult matchup. If they get a good turn one, whether they go first or second, there’s not much you can do. Sceptile / Vileplume needs some turns to get going, and Zoroark-GX / Exodia wants to ruin their opponent’s hand before these turns happen. If you go first, though, you can shut them down by playing [card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card]. If they don’t have [card name=”Sky Field” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card] in hand, they won’t be able to use [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card] to look for it and will surely miss the lock. Once you have Grovyle in play, you’re very resilient to their disruption and will eventually win the game, since you can discard their Energy over and over with Mach Cut and Faba.
Rayquaza-GX
Since they don’t play anything but Basic Pokemon, you should win the game whenever you set up the Burning Shadows [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”6″ c=”name”][/card]. You can bench other Pokemon, like [card name=”Grovyle” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”21″ c=”name”][/card], to help your set up, but be sure to not play down more than five Prizes worth of Pokemon, in addition to Vileplume. As long as you do so, your opponent will never be able to take six Prizes and Vileplume will win you the game.
Archie’s Blastoise
There are a lot of things that can go into this matchup. They play a lot of Items, so Vileplume is very effective. Most of their attackers have Grass Weakness, which helps you. It seems that Sceptile / Vileplume is favored for these reasons, though Blastoise’s speed can make things difficult. Many lists have adopted Magikarp & Wailord-GX as an attacker, and if they manage to use Towering Splash GX while you’re setting up, you’ve lost. It’s not easy for them to do so, though.
This is a matchup where Magnezone is not very important. Try to set up both Vileplume if you can. Irritating Pollen will prevent them from using Items, most importantly [card name=”Superior Energy Retrieval” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”103″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], whereas Disgusting Pollen [card name=”Vileplume” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”6″ c=”name”][/card] forces them to use [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] as an attacker, which is pretty inefficient and can easily be KO’d. Basically, as long as you can set up despite their quick attacks, you should win.
Buzzwole-GX Variants
The key card in this matchup is Celestial Storm [card name=”Sceptile” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card]. Try to spread Energy on your most important Pokemon — Sceptile, Sceptile-GX and Vileplume — so they can’t be KO’d easily. [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] can be an issue but, without access to [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card], you’ll see it coming, and of course you can easily KO it because of its Grass Weakness. Remember that they’ll have to KO your Sceptile rather than Sceptile-GX, and try to keep an unevolved Grovyle so that when Sceptile gets KO’d, you can shuffle it into your deck with Brock and then evolve again.
The matchup should be favorable, although if your start is slow, Buzzwole-GX decks have the speed to take advantage of it can KO your most vulnerable Pokemon to prevent you from setting up.
Vespiquen / Flareon
Your Pokemon’s Fire Weakness is the main issue in this matchup. Fortunately, most lists have gone down to 2-2 [card name=”Flareon” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”12″ c=”name”][/card], so you won’t have to face an endless stream of them. Set up the Item lock as soon as possible and target everything that has a Double Colorless Energy. If possible, charge up a [card name=”Sceptile-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”22″ c=”name”][/card] on the Bench to KO Flareon before it can KO you. Against Vespiquen, you can deal by using Mach Cut to remove the Energy. I think this matchup is unfavored because they can take KOs very quickly, but it’s definitely winnable since they only play four Double Colorless Energy and can’t recover them with Special Charge under Item lock. Girafarig can also gain you some time by Lost Zoning Pokemon in order to decrease their attacks’ damage.
Stall Decks
You have many tools to deal with them, so you should do well. Set up the Item lock so that they can’t use [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], among others, and keep a space for [card name=”Magnezone” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] — playing two Supporters a turn in such a slow matchup is the key to victory. You’ll spend most of the game using [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] loops. You can attack to put some pressure on your opponent, but most importantly, use Girafarig’s Get Lost to Lost Zone your opponent’s Supporters. If you can remove one Lusamine, you remove their ability to go infinite. Your next targets should be the disruption Supporters such as [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Hugh” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], so they can’t be reused. If your opponent starts using their own Girafarig, switch back to Sceptile-GX to KO it (and then Lost Zone it as soon as possible so it doesn’t become an issue). Since you play three Lusamine, you can afford to lose one to Get Lost. In the end, you should be able to remove all your opponent’s resources, and simply win the game from there. Don’t hesitate to switch back and forth between Girafarig and an attacker: Tate & Liza gives you a lot of mobility. You can also discard Energy and shuffle them back thanks to [card name=”Brock’s Grit” set=”Evolutions” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card].
Trevenant
[cardimg name=”Life Forest Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”180″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
I don’t expect this deck to see too much play, but it’s a very favorable matchup. Their Item lock doesn’t bother you much, since you don’t run Items in the first place. The spread damage can be dealt with by a combination of Nurture and Heal, [card name=”Life Forest Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”180″ c=”name”][/card], and Jungle Heal GX. This is a matchup where you can go for [card name=”Magnezone” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] with your first Lifesplosion, and set up Vileplume manually later, because Oddish and Gloom won’t be under a lot of pressure.
5. Recap, and Some Other Ways to Build the Deck
Overall, Sceptile / Vileplume is a very fun deck to play if you’re not afraid of using Item lock to win. It has ways to deal with basically everything as long as its board doesn’t get destroyed by Towering Splash GX, or its hand by [card name=”Red Card” set=”Generations” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] plus [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card], in the first two turns. The issue is that your setup is unfortunately not guaranteed even if you don’t face one of those two threats. The odds of losing because you didn’t hit your turn two Grovyle in a matchup where time is critical are a bit higher than I like. In matchups against fair decks, like you might face on TCGO this isn’t a big issue. However, the best decks of the format are those that can prey on such a slow start, so in the context of a Regional Championship, you might lose more games than expected against Zoroark-GX decks, for instance.
For this reason, I think if I were to make changes to the list, I would want to improve its consistency. Ultra Ball or [card name=”Level Ball” set=”Ancient Origins” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] can be added to improve your odds of setting up well. I think Level Ball is the better of the two since it gets Grovyle and doesn’t require a discard. I would even consider changing a Tapu Lele-GX for a [card name=”Jirachi-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] in this case, so that it gives access to a turn one [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] as well. I think [card name=”AZ” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Steven” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] are the most cuttable cards in the list for such a change.
Another way to change the deck would be to go the other way and focus on its disruption elements. Some possible inclusions are [card name=”Team Flare Grunt” set=”XY” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] (which can be reused every turn thanks to Lusamine and Dual Brains) and [card name=”Hugh” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], the latter being useful mostly against Zoroark-GX decks that can still get big hands under Item lock.
A combination that deserves consideration is [card name=”Salamence” set=”Dragon Vault” no=”8″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Delinquent” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card]. You can use [card name=”Cradily” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”4″ c=”name”][/card] to set up Salamence and then ruin your opponent’s hand every turn. Lusamine can get back Stadiums so you can use Delinquent several turns in a row. This improves even more your matchups against slower decks, and can be powerful against Zoroark-GX if they don’t Ability lock you. The other issue is that it’s a combination that requires you to use Lifesplosion on Salamence, so if you have a bad start (for example if Ditto or Cradily is prized, or you don’t get the Energy to use Lifesplosion), you won’t be able to use it.
That’s all from me this week! Once again, if you see me in Dallas, don’t hesitate to say hi! My number one deck choice for the event is still Zoroark-GX / Garbodor, but I haven’t finalized my decision yet. In any case, I hope to represent Europe proudly this weekend for my first Regional Championship in another continent. You can follow me on Twitter to get live updates from the event.
Good luck and see you next week!
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