Help Tapu Bulu w/ Lurantis or Vikavolt???

Jaypenny777

Jaypenny777

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hi guys, I have been going back and forth with which of these two decks is better. I play both and do very well with both. The Vikavolt powers up Bulu extremely fast but sometimes my Bulu's go down and I have no back up attacker. Also I run two energy recyclers to get back energy but when vileplume comes around I get stuck and sometimes run dry on energy. When I play Lurantis GX atleast Lurantis GX can do some damage in sticky situation. Also Lurantis pulls energy from discard to power up Bulu which I like. What are your guys thought? With Vikavolt I run Tapu Koko as well but any suggestions on alternate attackers I could add that would fit with this deck?

Thanks
 
I suggest using Brock's Grit and a Energy Recycler, to make sure you won't have a problem with Vileplume (unless Brock's Grit is in your price cards) and you have enough possibilities to get your energy cards back.

You could for example get 1 Tapu Bulu GX (in case it is knocked out) and 5 energy back with Brock's Grit, but that of course works best with Vikavolt (since Vikavolt will get the energy out of your deck into play for you).

Maybe adding a Drampa GX could work here, since Vileplume often comes with Decidueye GX, and Drampa has an attack which removes a special energy from your opponent for 1 energy, but I guess there will be better (grass?!) options as well. Golisopod GX from SM 3 might be interesting too when it becomes legal.

To answer your question: I think the Vikavolt option is the better one, since it is faster; if you play that deck well, you'll get almost every turn 2 / 3 energies attached.
 
I play the version with Lurantis GX and the promo Lurantis because with 2 of those and a Choice Band you Tapu Bulu can hit for 250 to 1HKO pretty much everything.
 
Vikavolt is by far the superior variant. You can even run Vikavolt GX if you don't have an attacker. If you are really scared of Vileplume, you can run Brock's Guts + Energy Recycler to get back energy. Lele also makes as an attacker if you can stack energy on it with Strong Charge.

Also remember that Lurantis PROMO is still an option, though its not needed; as you OHKO anything relevant.
 
I would say Lurantis is your better option. Use 4 Fomantis, 3 promo Lurantis and 1 or 2 Lurantis-GX (depending on how often you go for more damage with Bulu). Fomantis gives you rudimentary energy acceleration and you won't need to run Rare Candy.
 
I personally like the Lurantis version better just because it operates better under ability lock. If you're using Vika/Bulu, are out of field blowers, and get ability locked, your only option is to just concede. Vika/Bulu is just like Metagross, it doesn't work without abilities which I feel is risky under the current meta. But if you don't think you'll be ability locked in matchups, then Vika/Bulu is usually faster in outputting high damage.
 
With the new rotation, I'm not quite sure what'll be optimal. But let's be honest - the Vikavolt variant is the superior option simply based on its results and placings at big tournaments. I can't remember any big wins Lurantis/Bulu picked up. Nature's Judgment requires a heavy discard and Vikavolt allows you to bounce back more quickly than Lurantis would. Attaching two from an Ability rather than from an attack is huge; there's no need to Retreat or spend a turn using Flower Supply. Rather, you can just smack with Bulu twice in a row using Strong Charge and a manual attachment.

You guys seein this?
 
Pros of Vikavolt:

Pulls Energy directly from the deck, instead of relying on getting it into the discard first.
Practically guarantees you will be able to use Nature's Judgement every turn, as long as you are able to Strong Charge
Vikavolt can be a powerful single-Prize attacker in a pinch, with a respectable 150 HP and is capable of hitting 180 with a Choice Band.

Cons of Vikavolt:
Is a Stage 2, meaning it's clunky, and takes time to set up, even considering Rare Candy
Reliant on using Strong Charge every turn. Even one turn of not being able to use Abilities can put the deck behind.
Requires using Lightning Energy, which hurts consistency by splitting your Basic Energy count

Pros of Lurantis:
Doesn't rely on Abilities to accelerate Energy
Uses exclusively Grass Energy
Lurantis-GX is a respectable attacker in its own right. Flower Supply chips away at Pokemon, while Solar Blade provides an option to two-shot, and Chloroscythe GX is very powerful without discarding Energy.
Lurantis Promo helps both attackers do additional damage to hit important numbers.
Sets up quickly and consistently

Cons of Lurantis:
Requires Energy to be placed in the discard before Flower Supply does anything useful
Cannot attack with Nature's Judgement every turn
Fares poorly against Volcanion and single-prize attackers, other than Greninja which both decks beat easily.

For the current format, I feel VikaBulu is the better play. Garbodor can be mitigated with Field Blower, which the deck runs multiple copies of and can be searched for with Skyla. It can also play a slower game and not rely on items, reducing the threat of Trashalanche. Once set up, Tapu Bulu-GX will hit 180 on any opposing Drampa-GX, and will also one-shot Espeoon-GX with a Choice Band, while discarding its own Energy and making Psychic do little damage. Zoroark and Zoroark BREAK are still threats, but even the Lurantis version doesn't counter them. Vikavolt can better resist Vespiquen and other single-prize attackers by setting up multiple single-prize attackers that can power each other up with Strong Charge.

When the rotation is announced, this should be reviewed again moving forward.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top