Octillery Gallade

[fr33land]

So, this deck is fun.

Having multiple Gallade and Octillery is really awesome.

Generally I try to get Gallade as quickly as possible, since Premonition can improve draws and make the rest of your setup easier, Octillery falls into place no problem after that.  Once you've got multiple attackers and your support pokemon I use Korrina for Puzzle.

Two problems I am having are;

Mega Evolutions, since Gallade is generally unable to reach the OHKO damage threshold required

Item Lock, since I don't run many stage 1's and rely generally on Rare Candy and Level Ball to set up.

 

Pokémon: 13
 

• 3 Ralts BKT 100
• 1 Kirlia AOR 53
• 3 Gallade BKT 84
• 2 Remoraid BKT 31
• 2 Octillery BKT 33
• 2 Lucario EX FUF 107

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: 35
 

• 4 Korrina FUF 95
• 2 Lysandre FFI 104
• 2 Professor Sycamore XY 122
• 2 Giovanni's Scheme BKT 138
• 1 Judge BKT 143
• 1 Brigette BKT 161

• 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
• 3 Rare Candy PRC 135
• 2 Focus Sash FUF 91
• 3 Muscle Band XY 121
• 3 Level Ball AOR 76
• 1 Escape Rope PRC 127
• 4 Puzzle of Time BKP 109

• 3 Fighting Stadium FUF 90

Energy: 12
 

• 5 Fighting Energy
• 4 Strong Energy
• 3 Double Colorless Energy

Lucario EX is used since it is a convenient starter who can apply pressure early game.  Corkscrew Smash can take advantage of Premonition and single pieces of Puzzle.

Fairy Ralts and Kirlia break up the uniform psychic type weakness of your two attackers and have the added advantage of resistance to Darkness.

Octillery draws into those cards you set up, either with Puzzle or with Premonition.

 

Early game, especially turn 1 Brigette is an excellent supporter, since Korrina's usefulness in evolving Gallade is most potent turn 2, however without Battle Compressor it isn't always readily available.  Korrina is used almost every turn, I'm thinking about including a Professor's Letter for the Assault Vest or Aegislash EX matchup.  Lysandre has excellent synergy with Gallade's attack so two copies has worked very well.  For setup spec a Sycamore with Puzzle or Premonition early game works well too.  Level Ball is super important, fetching Ralts, Kirlia, Remoraid and Octillery, a 4th copy would be nice.

 

130 damage from Sensitive Blade isn't so awesome, so speed and damage modifiers like Strong Energy and Muscle Band come in very handy as do DCE.  Sometimes having Strong Energy and only Ralts and Remoraid hurts, especially with only a single switch card, so I'm looking for a way to include another.

 

Giovanni's is somewhat mediocre as draw support, but can work well Premonition and Puzzle.

 

Hex Maniac and Garbodor are pretty awful, so I need to find space for a Megaphone.

 

Other bad matchups include M Mewtwo Y decks (help me focus sash) and Gengar EX, whose Dark Corridor attack with Muscle Band KO's Gallade and nullifies the effects of Focus Sash with poison.  The latter is the biggest threat and I don't think there's a remedy.

 

Trainer's Mail is a powerful card in this combo and could work extremely well with Puzzle, enabling you to make the combo without using your supporter for the turn that I would like to include, but don't want to sacrifice too much to include, further increasing this deck's vulnerability to item lock.

 

Some things I am considering changing:

3-1 Sycamore - Giovanni's split instead of 2-2

Fewer energies.

2 Muscle Band

Drop Brigette for 4th Level Ball?

4-2-4 Gallade? 

 

Right now it seems to work well, setup seems easy and the combo makes it easy to control subsequent turns by making sure you never draw dead.  Puzzle combo is easy to make and can have a very versatile effect rescuing exactly those cards you need for a given matchup.

 

Thanks!

[Pika36521]

There are fun-fun decks and fun-effective decks, and this seems more the 2nd kind. Kudos to you!

 

I've been wanting to work around lucario and gallade both independently, and only now i realized the best solution is to mix them together. There's a synergy between them, and with octillery this sure runs fast and smooth. Korrina helps get a 2nd Puzzle. Has it happened to you to deck out? I can imagine gallade-octillery-gallade-lucario in one turn burns pretty quick.

 

Maybe drop the DCEs for energy switches? You don't attach 2 energies at the same time but you can switch them, so i guess we can call it energy acceleration. "Sometimes having Strong Energy and only Ralts and Remoraid hurts" As do having Lucario and DCE i bet Plus the less special energy the less chance you get to get energy discarded.

 

This is the kinda deck in which you can afford to do crazy stuff cause Gallade will get it for you, but there's not that much room.

 

Some things I am considering changing (i myself haven't tried it out, but here it goes):

3-1 Sycamore - Giovanni's split instead of 2-2 (totally agree)

Fewer energies. (maybe -1 dce, -1 strong?)

2 Muscle Band (i'd keep the 3)

Drop Brigette for 4th Level Ball? (worth the shot, especially if 4-2-4 gallade)

4-2-4 Gallade? (i'd keep it 3-1-3 unless it proved to be hard to have at least 2 benched gallades and in that case run 4-1-4 / 4-2-4)

 

 As for Gengar ex incompatibility, i can only think of the obvious weakness policy, sparkling robe, Aegislash's Miracle Guard or fighting fury belt to raise it's hp beyond the poison... but both tools are discardable before Gengar's attack if that would be the case, and aegislash means sacrificing at least 3 slots and more trouble to setup.

 

EDIT: I'm thinking maybe i'd include 2 cards, only to deal extreme cases like Gengar and Mewtwo: Yveltal ex and 1 dark energy!

 

EDIT 2: PS.: What do you think of Machamp Ex/Landorus/Ariados?

[fr33land]

Thanks, man.  Going to try the few tweaks, probably drop a Strong for a Professor's Letter, change the Sycamore / Giovanni's split.  Brigette is so good when it works, but if it doesn't pop up at the right time over the next few matches I might change it, adding a Battle Compressor seems like a good idea, but I'd have to Korrina for it, then I still wouldn't be able to VS Seeker Brigette and use it first turn. . . It just seems a little redundant when between Korrina and Level Ball I've 7 different pokemon search cards.  Maybe Startling Megaphone in case of Garbodor.  I appreciate the advice!

 

I think those DCE are really good, though.  Just as a recovery card, where Gallade gets KO'd, so long as there's a Ralts on the bench it can be attacking as Gallade the very next turn (this is where the Puzzle kind of shines, if I have one piece and can get another the Gallade you just KO'd and it's energy come back to haunt you, I can get Gallade and a Puzzle with Korrina then get Rare Candy and DCE from discard, it's disgusting when it works).

 

I honestly haven't tried Machamp EX, btw.  The only thing that I notice right away is that it's first attack is two typed energies and sometimes it does zero damage, so it's kind of slow.  Crazy Hammer is a pretty sick attack, but it requires a few pieces.  In this deck Korrina works awesome with Level Ball to get Octillery into play, it would work exactly the same way with Ariados, since both lines are off-type and have 90 or less HP.  It just happens to have a dual use for Ralts here.  The one problem is that it can be slow, fetching only one card you need, at least Octillery offsets that with it's ability.

 

If I were to try it I might max out on Max Elixir and run 3-4 Hawlucha as my starter, so I can start with it and try to power up Machamp EX quickly, then retreat to Machamp EX.  Fighting Spirit Belt for Machamp EX?

 

I've seen Heavy Boots - Steaming Mad Machamp EX, but there's an awful lot of OHKO pokemon out there now.

 

I think it might be the same problem I'm having with another deck and the same problem people who are trying Darkrai EX and Hypno are facing: it is simply not possible to power up Darkrai EX and evolve Hypno to fulfill the conditions for attack on your first turn.  Both have a very similar mechanic and are only really great when they're able to rush and lay down their second attack early with some kind of damage boost. 

 

I've always been a bit leery of relying on Landorus as my lead off hitter, I think it's still PTSD from Seismitoad EX.

 

Anyways, I personally think Machamp EX is a big threat since it and other pokemon like Damage Change Redtwo EX and M Glalie EX, Aggron EX PRC to a lesser extent require basically all decks to have OHKO power.  It's a pokemon that I consider when making any deck, I've got to be able, in a pinch to reach 180-190 damage if I encounter it.

 

I plan to run Garbodor in the future with fighting to eliminate the threat of Ariados, Rush decks that use Hoopa and Shaymin EX and Vileplume or Trevenant.

[Pika36521]

You would have to run at least 3 Battle Compressor  in order to have the chance of using it first turn for Brigette. I get your point regarding DCE/Gallade/Puzzle and there's no doubt it's an awesome strategy, plus your opponent is not expecting you to retrieve it that fast. Concerning Garbodor i'd rather Lysandre it out that Megaphone it, but it depends on the situation i guess.

 

That's funny, I use Machamp Ex as that OHKO poké, which itself is the reason for other players to have OHKO power. I Figure that with the amount of Korrina/Switch/Compressor/Landorus/Machamp i have i can easily 1st turn Landorus active and benched Machamp with energies on the discard and ready to attack in one or two turns after setting up Ariados. Plus energy switch helps me have it setup 2nd turn or so, switching the energy from Landorus (which then retreats by float stone or switch) to Machamp instead of Shout of Power for it again wasting 1 turn. Once it's boosted and ready to attack it's hard to stop it.

 

I gotta start watching out for Garbo too, i mean it's a serious threat and i haven't upgraded my main decks that rely on abiity to deal with it.

[fr33land]

Yup, I see it.  Between one shout of power, a manual attachment and an energy switch all very easy to accomplish especially since you can Korrina for the item you need turn 1 and turn 2 (say Battle Compressor, then Switch or Energy Switch) you've definitely got a good chance of having it attacking your second turn. 

 

Thinking that Fighting Spirit Belt is really disgusting for Machamp EX I think, with access to Strong energy and Fighting Stadium, I think you'd rather have 220 hp than Muscle Band.  That tool is kind of hurting this Gallade deck.  220 damage is pretty much impossible and I better hope I found a Focus Sash for Gallade.

 

Just about any pokemon with a 160 damage attack is great I think.  Arauros could be cool it the cost wasn't so outrageous (Archie's Blastoise would love it I think).  Machamp and Darkrai have about the best ones, M Houndoom EX is a Mega, Darkrai's attack cost is slightly better.

 

You aren't going to try Max Elixir?  I guess you don't run that much basic energy and you're compressing it so it's kind of a competing strategy.

 

We've only got a few days or IRL tournament play before every deck has to have a Startling Megaphone.  Even then it's still like trying to stop puke with a kleenex.

[Pika36521]

Well Machamp-Ex was going well with baby Landorus and energy switch, as i can first turn battle compress and shout of power one energy on machamp and the next evlve Ariados, manually attach on machamp and energy switch from Lando to Machamp and voilá. In this deck i'm using muscle band and virbank to take advantage of Ariados and be able to OHKO megas. But i'm surely switching bands for belts as i already have an extra 30 damage from virbank, and get some extra 40HP on macho monster.

 

Then, as i play expanded, I built another version with Keldeo and float stone, still landorus but adding max elixir and a few more twists, but i almost haven't tried it out because i'm always building new decks and older ones don't fascinate me anymore xD

 

I just built a version for Gallade with fighting stadium and muscle band, using old Darkrai-Ex to deal some extra damage to the bench and help Gallade KO. Baby Yveltal and dark patches to boost Darkrai, Keldeo-Ex, and Maxie's to get Gallade.

 

Now i'm gonna try your version with Octillery, Lucario and puzzle which will most certainly be the best and funniest option. As you said, puzzle for rare candy and DCE via korrina must be disgusting! I'm just thinking if there is any chance of increasing sensitive blade's damage. Even if you have stadium and band it hits Exs for 170 and the ideal would be 20 more at the very least and considering some Exs have fighting resistance. That's why i though of fighting energy and energy switch or maybe max elixir, to get the extra 20 damage... but it may compromise the deck dynamics.

 

Also, i've been trying out this new Fates Collide Lucario and it's pretty awesome as a fun deck, almost every time it hits for a OHKO. I love it when i put Riolu on the bench and max elixir one energy, evolve via wally and attach shield energy all on the same turn, from 0 to fully setup! Problem is Lucario has very low HP and depends on the opponent's setup to use the 2nd attack, so if it has to be playing alone as soon as it gets KOd is game over for me! I'm thinking maybe i should add some Ex or basic with a considerable attack power for a low cost in case my opponent only has 1 benched pokémon. Oh and i've been coupling shield energy with parallel city to minimize damage when it can, so as i'm not using that much steel shelter i'm vulnerable to special conditions and have to keep some switches with me. Maybe i should switch out parallel and switches for shelter thus getting a couple slots free. Also i'm running a lot of energy cause i can't afford to spend 1 single turn without attaching. So, my version (i haven't seen anyone playing it yet) needs more consistency, any ideas? Here's a list:

[Pika36521]

Fates Collide Lucario Deck List

 

Pokémon - 10

 

3 Riolu ******

1 Riolu *** 46

3 Lucario *** 63

3 Unown AOR 30

 

Trainer Cards - 38

 

3 Wally ROS 94

2 Ultra Ball DEX 102

4 N DEX 96

2 Super Rod BKT 149

2 Lysandre AOR 78

3 Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92

4 Max Elixir BKP 102

1 Colress PLS 118

4 Switch ROS 91

1 Steel Shelter PHF 105

2 Parallel City BKT 145

3 Professor Birch's Observations PRC 134

2 Random Receiver DEX 99

1 Professor Juniper BLW 101

4 VS Seeker PHF 109

 

Energy - 12

 

8 Metal Energy Energy 8

4 Shield Energy PRC 143

 

Total Cards - 60

 

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