Fighting Fusion (Fighting / Big Basics) 1st Place City Championships

[My Little Keldeo]

So... with City Championships coming to a close this weekend, I'm quite surprised with myself. I honestly wasn't expecting to nab both a top four and a first place. I really like how open the metagame at Cities turned out to be, though I'm expecting to see some shifts to more tried and true methods like Donphan, Yveltal and VirGen. That said, while I still think of Fighting variants as a very strong deck choice, I think it's time to either put this particular version to rest or do some major structural changes for an evolving meta.

Still, with me being so proud of this deck's performance, I thought I'd share. While I made small changes to the Trainer lineup throughout the weeks that I played it, the core engine always stayed the same. What I'm posting here is the version that I won first place with. Questions, comments and feedback are always appreciated.

This deck has a theme song!

Pokemon: (12)

• 
  2 Landorus-EX BCR
  2 Mewtwo-EX NXD / LTR
  2 Seismitoad-EX FFI
  2 Hawlucha FFI
  2-2 Garbodor DRX / PLF / LTR

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums: (36)

• 
  4 Professor Sycamore
  3 N
  2 Colress
  2 Korrina
  2 Lysandre
  3 VS Seeker
  
  4 Muscle Band
  4 Hypnotoxic Laser
  3 Ultra Ball
  2 Float Stone
  1 Switch
  1 Escape Rope
  1 Head Ringer
  1 Computer Search ACE SPEC
  
  2 Virbank City Gym
  1 Fighting Stadium

Energy: (12)

• 
  4 Basic Fighting Energy
  4 Strong Energy
  4 Double Colorless Energy

Spoiler

I fail at photography.

Strategy:

A first look at the list makes it seem very eclectic. Running two of each attacker means the deck lacks focus. And the truth is that there really isn't a central strategy. As far as Pokemon go however, the deck lacks techs. Hawlucha, Landorus, Seismitoad and Mewtwo each have situations where they shine tne brightest, but none of them are included only to counter a specific matchup or matchups. Each of them are just all-around good, and have their own special roles. Landorus-EX can snipe the opponent's bench, setting up for KOs later on in the match. Seismitoad-EX is your early-game Pokemon of choice (unless you're against VirGen of course), slowing down your opponent's setup and keeping big Pokemon locked in place. Mewtwo-EX and Hawlucha FFI are your designated heavy hitters, as they do loads of damage for little energy investment. And Garbodor is simply there to annoy Ability-heavy decks like Aromatisse, Crobat and the surprise rogue. I am not a fan of surprises, so good old Garb is a nice insurance policy.

As far as strategy goes, the only tactic this deck employs is aggression. It's all about low-cost attacks for early game pressure, and to keep pounding away turn after turn. The non-draw / search Trainers are all about either boosting damage (Muscle Band/ Laser) or swapping to an attacker better suited for the situation (Float Stone / Switch / Escape Rope). A single Head Ringer is included in this particular incarnation to provide a little disruption, or to incapacitate an EX that could cause mayhem. Throughout my playtesting and tournaments I swapped this around for an Enhanced Hammer or Pokemon Center Lady. All three of them seem to work equally well. I hate when you change one card and it completely upsets the balance of the deck. Thankfully I have a bit of freedom here.

What I really like about this deck is that it doesn't rely on specific combinations of cards, and it works with what's in your hand. As long as you have draw power, you'll usually have something you can play. For example, if you didn't draw a Laser, you'll probably at least have a Muscle Band. Don't have a DCE for Mewtwo? No problem, I'm sure you've got a Fighting or Strong Energy to put on Landorus or Hawlucha. The deck is realy versatile like that, and I'm going to miss playing it, but I think for a big event like Regionals, I'm going to need something with a little more focus.

 

[Mora]

After switching between ten different decks to find something I want to play, I think I've finally settled with Fighting Garbodor. There is a lot of Manectric in my area, so I feel like it's a good meta call right now. I don't play DCE attackers because I was afraid I would run into issues with not being able to attach Strong Energy to things, or not having the Fighting Energy I was really needing to top deck, but I definitely want to work Seismitoad and Mewtwo into my list somehow with DCE. I don't play Laserbank in mine, but I did have room for Max Potion which is really fun. What's the Virizion Genesect match up like with just one Head Ringer? I'd love to play Spiritomb, but duhhh Garbodor.

 

[My Little Keldeo]

VirGen can be a tricky matchup if you draw poorly, but it's certainly beatable. The problem is that I like to rely on Seismitoad early game, which I'm not able to do. This is a matchup where DCE very handy though. You need to use Landorus-EX's Hammerhead in the early game instead, getting that 30 snipe damage on to your opponent's Genesects. You should get as many of them damaged as possible to create pressure, and will most likely allow Landorus to be knocked out, since by this point its job is probably done. If you can managed to KO a Virizion. that's alll the better, but Genesect is obviously the main threat. This unforunately makes you vulnerable to Enhanced Hammers, which is a problem because you need to get two DCE onto a Mewtwo as quickly as possible. Hawlucha is another option, but is less durable and you need some survivability. A smart VirGen player will remove the DCE, even if your active Landorus has Strong Energy attached. A fully charged Mewtwo should be able to plow through a weakned VirGen field. If it gets G-Boostered, then you fall back on Hawlucha (just needs one energy and is one prize). If you get the second Landorus out, look for a benched Pokemon (probably Virizion) with 30 or less HP left to nab two prizes when it's safe.

As for the consistency issues you worry about, very rarely have I run into something like that. As long as I have draw support there should be at least something in your hand to work with. If you have a Strong Energy but not a DCE right awy, you can just swing with your Fighting Pokemon rather than Mewtwo or Seismitoad.... or vise versa. The deck is very adaptable like that.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

First of all, CONGRATS. It's great to see that "big fighting w/Garbodor" remains a top deck yielding solid performance. I'm a bit biased since I had 2 T4 state finishes with a similar deck last season. What decks did you encounter in your matches?

By the way, quite a few players in my area still play a variety of "big fighting" decks (most are non-Donphan too) and will probably continue to do so till Primal Clash is tournament-legal.

 

[Mora]

Yeah congrats again! I played a very similar deck yesterday and got first with it. I didn't encounter any VirGen; there were mostly Manectric variants. In top cut, there was Manectric Landorus, Manectric Water, and a Plasma deck. My Pokemon was:

2 Landorus EX
1 Lucario EX - Mainly as an alternative to Landorus without the Water Weakness, and I knew with my bad luck in tournaments, the draw would save me.
1 Jirachi EX
2-2 Garbodor
2 Hawlucha; Stupid good.
1 Terrakion

I really like your list though. I may build it up and play it. I love being able to hit things for Weakness with Hawlucha! OHKO Manectric with Fighting support is really fun, and that's really popular in my area right now. I play Scramble Switch as my Ace Spec, and it's really come in handy, but since you play DCE attackers, you probably are better off sticking with the extra consistency with Computer Search.

 

[totodile_it_down]

Congrats, indeed. Love your tourney write-ups.

I actually run a fairly similar deck (FightingBox, if you will ) and I've found myself questioning why I use Korrina over Skyla. Obviously being able to go and get a Pokemon is useful, but I hate being limited to only grabbing an item. So often I need a Stadium or another Supporter for the following turn, so I end up wasting my Computer Search or just going without. Would it be insane to run Skyla over Korrina in a Fighting-based deck?

Ps. Not to mention that more than half of the Pokemon in the deck end up not being Fighting types in these sorts of builds.

 

[Mora]

You could play a split between Skyla and Korrina. Because there are plenty of times where I've wanted to Korrina for Fighting Stadium or another Supporters. In a similar deck, I played 2 of each, and I was tempted to play 2 of each in this deck, but there were a lot of plays I could do with Korrina for another Pokemon and Scramble Switch, so I just left it as Korrina. If you play VS Seeker in your list, then you can sort of Korrina for another Supporter next turn. It requires you to already have that Supporter in this discard, and it's definitely limited early game, but it's still managable. And if you play Jirachi, then of course you could get out an Ultra Ball and save it for next turn.

 

[My Little Keldeo]

First of all, CONGRATS. It's great to see that "big fighting w/Garbodor" remains a top deck yielding solid performance. I'm a bit biased since I had 2 T4 state finishes with a similar deck last season. What decks did you encounter in your matches?

By the way, quite a few players in my area still play a variety of "big fighting" decks (most are non-Donphan too) and will probably continue to do so till Primal Clash is tournament-legal.

Thanks! I've noticed an uptick in this deck as well, and I'm glad to see it. I don't like to brag, but having played this deck longer than some people (I've been running it since Furious Fists came out), I do have a little more experience and am pretty confident in the mirror match. Sadly I'm afraid Yveltal will rise up again for Regionals, so this could become a risky play. While it's not an autoloss, it's not a good matchup, and playing against Yveltal all day could become an issue.

Yeah congrats again! I played a very similar deck yesterday and got first with it. I didn't encounter any VirGen; there were mostly Manectric variants. In top cut, there was Manectric Landorus, Manectric Water, and a Plasma deck. My Pokemon was:

2 Landorus EX
1 Lucario EX - Mainly as an alternative to Landorus without the Water Weakness, and I knew with my bad luck in tournaments, the draw would save me.
1 Jirachi EX
2-2 Garbodor
2 Hawlucha; Stupid good.
1 Terrakion

I really like your list though. I may build it up and play it. I love being able to hit things for Weakness with Hawlucha! OHKO Manectric with Fighting support is really fun, and that's really popular in my area right now. I play Scramble Switch as my Ace Spec, and it's really come in handy, but since you play DCE attackers, you probably are better off sticking with the extra consistency with Computer Search.

I'm not a fan of Jirachi-EX, but i think the community will be forever divided on its viability. There's really valid arguments for both sides on whether or not to run Jirachi. Terrakion is also an interesting choice. I just don't like the hefty retreat cost, and Retaliate has limited uses, especially for a two energy investement. On the plus side, the Grass weakness is kind of awkward, and it certainly has a niche role. I feel the same about Lucario-it's a little to situational, but very good at the job it does. I think Lucario will become very strong after this year's rotation.

Scramble Switch is an interesting choice, with or without DCE. I've used it in past decks, and I've loved pulling it out as a surprise. The problelm I have with it is twofold. First, I always seem to get it in my opening hand, at which point it becomes trash.. especially if Sycamore is involved. Second, as you said Computer Search is the better choice for consistency, since there's no other way you can pull out Special Energy, and you can Korrina for it.

Congrats, indeed. Love your tourney write-ups.

I actually run a fairly similar deck (FightingBox, if you will ) and I've found myself questioning why I use Korrina over Skyla. Obviously being able to go and get a Pokemon is useful, but I hate being limited to only grabbing an item. So often I need a Stadium or another Supporter for the following turn, so I end up wasting my Computer Search or just going without. Would it be insane to run Skyla over Korrina in a Fighting-based deck?

Ps. Not to mention that more than half of the Pokemon in the deck end up not being Fighting types in these sorts of builds.

I think Korrina is too powerful not to run, even if more than half the Pokemon in my deck aren't Fighting, and she can't get Stadiums or directly get Supporters like Skyla., and I wouldn't advice a split either. In a deck like this, getting just one card early on via your Supporter just isn't fast enough. Getting the Pokemon and the Item speeds your setup twofold and can really put you ahead. Skyla only lets you nab one card, which can be very helpful in the late game since it lets you pinpoint just what you need. However, Korrina is more versatile because she can grab Pokemon. Korrina much better than Skyla in the early game, and like Skyla is amazing late game. Both of them are dead weight in the midgame. Despite the limits, I feel Korrina is much less situational than Skyla, and therefore you will see more use from her. With VS Seeker you can usually pull back a Supporter anyway, and between three Stadiums you should usually get something you can use.