Standard Tapu Koko GX - The Storm of JUSTICE

[HitagiCrab]

Here's my take on Tapu Koko GX. The deck is made to get consistent 2-shots without letting your Tapu Kokos get knocked out, hence the super defensive line of Fury Belts and Aether Paradise. The deck is super fun to play!

Pokemon: 10

• 4 Tapu Koko GX
• 1 Raikou BKT
• 1 Jolteon EX
• 2 Tapu Lele GX
• 2 Shaymin EX

Energy: 11

• 11 Electric Energy

Trainers: 39

• 3 Professor Sycamore
• 3 N
• 2 Lysandre
• 1 Skyla
• 1 Hex Maniac
• 1 Lillie
• 1 Olympia

• 2 Parallel City
• 1 Rough Seas

• 4 Ultra Ball
• 4 VS Seeker
• 4 Trainers' Mail
• 4 Max Elixir
• 4 Fighting Fury Belt
• 2 Field Blower
• 1 Super Rod
• 1 Escape Rope

Cards I am considering adding are Escape Rope and Parallel City. Escape Rope gives me an extra out to my opponent attempting to Lysandre stall me with my benched Kokos. Parallel City is always an excellent tech and has the added benefit of disposing of my injured Kokos that are sitting on the bench.

P. S. I can't wait for Acerola to come out!

Let me know what you guys think!

LATEST CHANGES

• -1 Raikou
• +1 Tapu Lele GX

Tapu Lele is just too good.

• -1 Professor Sycamore
• -1 Pokemon Fan Club
• +1 N
• +1 Lillie

With this deck, the amount of hands you get that you don't want to Sycamore away is somewhat higher than usual. Fan Club feels a bit odd in this deck for the reason that you don't really want to see it early on in the game. Upping the Lele count to 2 makes Lillie an attractive option.

• -3 Aether Paradise Conservation Area
• +2 Parallel City
• +1 Rough Seas

Parallel is a great option for this deck's game plan of benching damaged Pokemon. Rough Seas can heal up your bench over time if your opponent is too busy trying to deal with the active Koko, although it does aid other decks, so you'll have to play it carefully in certain matchups.

• -1 Max Potion
• +1 Escape Rope

Escape Rope can more effectively help you in a pickle than Max Potion can. The Lysandre stalls are very real these days.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

A few thoughts for your consideration:

• First of all, really nice, solid list. So, most of my following comments reflect my personal, playing style.
• I concur with your thought about running 1 Parallel City (to remove your potential benched liabilities) since your Jolteon EX and Shaymin EXs will become prime targets for Lysandre'd 1HKOs due to their respective Weakness and/or "low" HP. Consider -1 APCA for +1 Parallel City.
• I too run a similar Item "engine" to facilitate setup at the beginning of the game. But, I also run 1 Lillie which can really come in handy after depleting your hand quite a bit, playing a Tapu Lele GX and then drawing up to 8 cards on your T1. Consider -1 Max Potion or Skyla for +1 Lillie.
• With the release of Field Blower, I suspect we are going to have Tool "wars" like we had with Stadiums. Most of my Poké-pals plan to run at least 2 Field Blowers. Any thoughts about running an Eco Arm and Delinquent?
• IMO, part of the deck's success can be attributed to how well you can hit the Max Elixirs early game. With 11 L energy and 4 Max Elixirs, I aim to hit at least 3 out of the 4 opportunities. Your testing results?
• Why no Tauros GX (and Ninja Boy) who can do a "sneak" attack for a surprise KO?

I hope you find these comments helpful.

 

[CaptZero]

My worry about Aether and FFB is that Field Blower is going to become pretty ubiquitous and they're just going to be peeling those stadiums and tools off your Tapus and then everything you've done to keep them alive is for nothing. I honestly think we should just be aiming for maximum damage. Choice Bands and Kukuis while running a fair number of our own Field Blowers to keep FFB and other HP increasers off the field.

 

[Draskk]

Here's my take on Tapu Koko GX. The deck is made to get consistent 2-shots without letting your Tapu Kokos get knocked out, hence the super defensive line of Fury Belts and Aether Paradise. The deck is super fun to play!

Pokemon: 10

• 4 Tapu Koko GX
• 2 Raikou BKT
• 1 Jolteon EX
• 1 Tapu Lele GX
• 2 Shaymin EX

Energy: 11

• 11 Electric Energy

Trainers: 39

• 4 Professor Sycamore
• 2 N
• 2 Lysandre
• 1 Skyla
• 1 Hex Maniac
• 1 Pokemon Fan Club
• 1 Olympia

• 3 Aether Paradise Conservation Area

• 4 Ultra Ball
• 4 VS Seeker
• 4 Trainers' Mail
• 4 Max Elixir
• 4 Fighting Fury Belt
• 2 Field Blower
• 1 Super Rod
• 1 Max Potion

Cards I am considering adding are Escape Rope and Parallel City. Escape Rope gives me an extra out to my opponent attempting to Lysandre stall me with my benched Kokos. Parallel City is always an excellent tech and has the added benefit of disposing of my injured Kokos that are sitting on the bench.

P. S. I can't wait for Acerola to come out!

Let me know what you guys think!

This looks like a solid list, but I have some problems with it: Garbodor (GRI) and Deciduplume. Garbodor will easily oneshot Kokos even with Fury Belt and APCA, and Deciduplume will completely shut you down. I can't really see how to make it less item reliant though, it seems to genuinely need all of them. However, I can see some places to cut items (and some general edits):

-1 Trainer's Mail
+1 Tapu Lele
-1 Max Elixir
+1 Lillie
-1 Pokemon Fan Club
+1 APCA

Garb still oneshots you and Deciduplume still shuts you down, but this is a start. Hope this helps!

 

[TuxedoBlack]

My worry about Aether and FFB is that Field Blower is going to become pretty ubiquitous and they're just going to be peeling those stadiums and tools off your Tapus and then everything you've done to keep them alive is for nothing. I honestly think we should just be aiming for maximum damage. Choice Bands and Kukuis while running a fair number of our own Field Blowers to keep FFB and other HP increasers off the field.

Interesting points. It will be interesting to see if there will be Tool "wars" like we had with Stadiums... The Midwest Regional should hopefully shed more light on this matter.

 

[AuraJackle]

If your worried about deciplume use rough seas to remove damage instead apca. If your against garbodor limit your item usage charge up slower if you have 2 and then attack

 

[MachMechs]

I plan on running Rough Seas until it rotates. The recyrring healing is better than blocking the damage once IMO. Also APCA will also help DeciPlume, meaning you go from a 2-shot on Decidueye to a 3-shot, unless you run with choice band.

I also like the idea of playing heavier on Max Potion and lighter on tools. FFB is nice, but the extra 10 damage really isn't gaining you anything on the offensive side. Going up to 210HP is nice for sure, but Max Potion can't get hit by a Field Blower. Choice Band isn't really helping either, GX's and most playable EX's still wont be in OHKO range that aren't already.

Garb is still a problem, but it's going to be a problem for everything now, including itself. So there's not much you can do there but try to get them before they get on a roll. On the plus side, you do OHKO Garb. Down side is you lose the prize trade. They'll only have 3 Garbs though (1 will be BKP Garb) so if you can strike first you have a decent chance. Just keep tools off them, and keep healing if they cant get the OHKO.

Food for thought. I really like Koko and plan to make this my main deck. Definitely has options.

 

[ElementZero]

IVe been working on something similar myself. I keep trying to decide between Choice band and fighting fury belt. Does belt work better for you?

 

[CaptZero]

I also like the idea of playing heavier on Max Potion and lighter on tools. FFB is nice, but the extra 10 damage really isn't gaining you anything on the offensive side. Going up to 210HP is nice for sure, but Max Potion can't get hit by a Field Blower. Choice Band isn't really helping either, GX's and most playable EX's still wont be in OHKO range that aren't already.

With Kukui and Choice Band you're going to be hitting 180 so I wouldn't toss aside such a useful tool so readily.

Garb is still a problem, but it's going to be a problem for everything now, including itself. So there's not much you can do there but try to get them before they get on a roll. On the plus side, you do OHKO Garb. Down side is you lose the prize trade. They'll only have 3 Garbs though (1 will be BKP Garb) so if you can strike first you have a decent chance. Just keep tools off them, and keep healing if they cant get the OHKO.

Garbotoxin won't be an issue if you run enough Field Blowers to keep your abilities on. With a single prize attacker in Raikou I don't think Trashvalanche will be too great an issue either, and it certainly won't be when you start running Accerola in Burning Shadows.

 

[HitagiCrab]

A few thoughts for your consideration:

• First of all, really nice, solid list. So, most of my following comments reflect my personal, playing style.
• I concur with your thought about running 1 Parallel City (to remove your potential benched liabilities) since your Jolteon EX and Shaymin EXs will become prime targets for Lysandre'd 1HKOs due to their respective Weakness and/or "low" HP. Consider -1 APCA for +1 Parallel City.
• I too run a similar Item "engine" to facilitate setup at the beginning of the game. But, I also run 1 Lillie which can really come in handy after depleting your hand quite a bit, playing a Tapu Lele GX and then drawing up to 8 cards on your T1. Consider -1 Max Potion or Skyla for +1 Lillie.
• With the release of Field Blower, I suspect we are going to have Tool "wars" like we had with Stadiums. Most of my Poké-pals plan to run at least 2 Field Blowers. Any thoughts about running an Eco Arm and Delinquent?
• IMO, part of the deck's success can be attributed to how well you can hit the Max Elixirs early game. With 11 L energy and 4 Max Elixirs, I aim to hit at least 3 out of the 4 opportunities. Your testing results?
• Why no Tauros GX (and Ninja Boy) who can do a "sneak" attack for a surprise KO?

I hope you find these comments helpful.

Yes, Parallel is a great idea. I might drop the Max Potion for it, seeing as it's trying to do the same job but less effectively.

I considered Lillie initially but thought it would be less effective because of me only running 1 Lele. I have not tested the Skyla yet, so once I do I will make the call between them.

I have not considered Eco Arm or Delinquent for this list. Interesting idea though. I figure most people will only run 1 Blower if they aren't too susceptible to Garbotoxin.

The Elixirs have been pretty consistent, in fact, I think 3/4 is right on the nose as far as I remember with my previous build.

I feel like Tapu Thunder GX has the same impact and unpredictability as Mad Bull GX+Ninja Boy. After all, you opponent doesn't know when a new Koko will swoop in to OHKO them. Also, the fact that I'm not playing DCE also gives me reason to not consider Tauros too heavily.

My worry about Aether and FFB is that Field Blower is going to become pretty ubiquitous and they're just going to be peeling those stadiums and tools off your Tapus and then everything you've done to keep them alive is for nothing. I honestly think we should just be aiming for maximum damage. Choice Bands and Kukuis while running a fair number of our own Field Blowers to keep FFB and other HP increasers off the field.

That definitely sounds like am entirely different build. I've seen alot of people do 1 Band and 1 Kukui with the thought of randomly hitting that 180, but at those numbers I just feel like it's nowhere near reliable. Fully dedicated Choice Band line with 2 Kukui sounds alot better to me than trying to sort of mix in some OHKO combo. Definitely worth a try! Actually, I think a friend of mine is going to make a build with this concept in mind.

 

[HitagiCrab]

This looks like a solid list, but I have some problems with it: Garbodor (GRI) and Deciduplume. Garbodor will easily oneshot Kokos even with Fury Belt and APCA, and Deciduplume will completely shut you down. I can't really see how to make it less item reliant though, it seems to genuinely need all of them. However, I can see some places to cut items (and some general edits):

-1 Trainer's Mail
+1 Tapu Lele
-1 Max Elixir
+1 Lillie
-1 Pokemon Fan Club
+1 APCA

Garb still oneshots you and Deciduplume still shuts you down, but this is a start. Hope this helps!

I highly doubt dropping 2 items will favor me at all. Like you said, he still oneshots me. I'd rather stay consistent.

 

[MachMechs]

With Kukui and Choice Band you're going to be hitting 180 so I wouldn't toss aside such a useful tool so readily.

Garbotoxin won't be an issue if you run enough Field Blowers to keep your abilities on. With a single prize attacker in Raikou I don't think Trashvalanche will be too great an issue either, and it certainly won't be when you start running Accerola in Burning Shadows.

I'll definitely give you that hitting 180 could be quite good. My hesitation with that is still that they're only worth it together, and Choice Band is a dead card against stuff like Garb, or any other non-EX/GX. FFB on the other hand nets you 210HP regardless of what you're facing and doesn't need Kukui to make it effective. I still prefer to run heavier Max Potion over tools, at least until Burning Shadows drops, again simply because you can't lose it to Field Blower.

 

[akealon]

I plan on running Rough Seas until it rotates. The recyrring healing is better than blocking the damage once IMO. Also APCA will also help DeciPlume, meaning you go from a 2-shot on Decidueye to a 3-shot, unless you run with choice band.

The damage block only counts for basics so Deci doesn't get the benefit of the stadium blocking damage.

 

[MachMechs]

Good call, I totally overlooked that. That makes it much more appealing to me actually since there's a good amount of Lapras & Water-Box decks around.

 

[CaptZero]

I'll definitely give you that hitting 180 could be quite good. My hesitation with that is still that they're only worth it together, and Choice Band is a dead card against stuff like Garb, or any other non-EX/GX. FFB on the other hand nets you 210HP regardless of what you're facing and doesn't need Kukui to make it effective. I still prefer to run heavier Max Potion over tools, at least until Burning Shadows drops, again simply because you can't lose it to Field Blower.

Most non-GX/ EX you're going to be OHKOing with or without Kukui anyway, so if you're running 3 Choice Band you can just toss them with Ultra Ball and it shouldn't be too much of an issue (except in the case of Garb). Garb is going to be an issue for everyone and no matter what item/ tool you're running he's going to cause you trouble.

 

[Nyora]

In my opinion, Parallel City goes in almost all my decks. It's so good and versatile and can come in handy in a ton of situations. I think you could replace a Pokémon Fan Club for it, since you want to draw more cards, not just get 2 mons. I see why that could be helpful, I just think it's better to draw more cards. Other than that, solid list! This looks awesome!

 

[HitagiCrab]

In my opinion, Parallel City goes in almost all my decks. It's so good and versatile and can come in handy in a ton of situations. I think you could replace a Pokémon Fan Club for it, since you want to draw more cards, not just get 2 mons. I see why that could be helpful, I just think it's better to draw more cards. Other than that, solid list! This looks awesome!

I will definitely take that into consideration after I get to play with Fan Club a little bit. I just feel that, from playing with my initial build, 4 Ultra Balls is not enough search for this deck.

 

[HitagiCrab]

IVe been working on something similar myself. I keep trying to decide between Choice band and fighting fury belt. Does belt work better for you?

It's more a matter of how you want your build to look. Koko already 2shots everything, so the extra damage from Choice Band doesn't get you very far unless you have Kukui. So like I said earlier, if you want to see consistent 180 KOs from Koko, you will definitely need more than 1 Kukui along with a full Choice Band line and maybe even another Tapu Lele.

 

[MachMechs]

I'm thinking of testing this with Wish Baton, or maybe even a couple Exp Share's until that gets released. Losing an attacker with all the energy has really ground this deck to a halt a couple times after making a good push early game. You can recover from it but taking even 1 extra turn without being able to attack can give an opponent the chance to turn things in their favor. Keeping some or all of the energy on the field gives you the chance to just drop a new Koko and carry on like nothing really happened. Then maybe drop Super Rod for a rescue stretcher since the energy will be hanging around, then might even drop the same Koko that got KO'd and just keep chugging.

I threw a Carbink with Energy Keeper in my list also to avoid hammers/flare grunt.

 

[HitagiCrab]

I've made some changes to the deck list. The changes and explanations are in the opening post.

I think I am going to replace Raikou with the new Tapu Koko (non GX). Free retreat on a 1 prize Pokemon is extremely attractive, considering there are matchups where Jolteon will not help you at all, so you won't want to even have it benched as a pivot for fear of it being OHKO'd. Losing Raikou is not a big deal to me, as you pretty much never attack with him anyway unlesd you absolutely can't find Koko.