Discussion Lurantis-GX/Vileplume: What Stage 1 Line Do I Play?

[awesomeMSG]

I personally have been testing Lurantis-GX/Vileplume almost non-stop. I have gone through so many different builds and finally think I found one that suits my play style. Just one problem: Volcanion. In my local area, Volcanion isn't very popular. But later this month when SuMo is legal, I will be going to the Third Meta Deck Tournament and want to almost perfect my deck. With that said, these are some of the stage 1 lines that could benefit this deck a lot.
-Alolan Muk (With it's ability, it can shut down Volcanion-EX's Steam Ups so it is harder for them to knock-out w/ Weakness Policy or it wouldn't even matter.)
- Vaporeon (AOR) (Aqua Effect can give Lurantis-GX the water typing to easily knock-out Volcanions. With Weakness Policy, they will have a hard time knocking you out while you get rid of their whole board. Also both Eevee and Vaporeon are Level Ball searchable.
-Shiinotic (Obviously the the most popular of the three, Shiinotic can set your board up easier with It's ability to search your deck for any Grass Pokemon. Especially helpful late game when you need to stream Lurantis-GXs. Not necessarily helpful against Volcanion though.)
I know this is mainly me wanting to get a more favorable Volcanion match-up, but after all of my testing, even with the Item lock, the match-up is still about 25-75, give or take.

 

[Otaku]

You provide three sound options. I wish I could help you eliminate one, but instead, I would focus on what you did not mention.

• Alolan Muk punishes more than just Volcanion-EX; though Shaymin-EX (ROS) usage plummets after the first turn, it doesn't go away. Item lock makes it more difficult to pull off (cannot easily play down your hand), but Alolan Muk eliminates this. Hoopa-EX (AOR) is in a similar boat. Oranguru (SuMo) and Mew (FCO) are used throughout the game and may prove relevant due to their usage in the budget friendly Passimian Rush decks. There are likely others as well.
• Vaporeon (AOR) isn't alone; is it really not worth it to use the other two AOR Eeveelutions? You should rarely if ever need all three at once, so a 2-1/1/1 line taking just five slots is possible.
• Shiinotic... actually nothing to really add here, save that this is probably the one deck where it actually makes sense, as your search is significantly limited by the Item lock.
• Here is a new one to consider; supporting Basic Pokémon. Then again, maybe you already have and it just wasn't worth it to include some basic Water Energy and Regice? With Items down, you won't be able to tap Fighting Fury Belt for help (assuming you'd even wish to) but your opponent cannot use VS Seeker to snag a discarded Lysandre or Pokémon Ranger.

So... probably not a lot of help, but maybe it will at least get the ball rolling on discussion? ^^'

 

[21times]

I run a single Tauros in my Lurantis, but you could run 2 if you think you'll see a lot of Volcanion.... I love Shiinotic, totally recommend it. I know some of the youtubers have teched in weakness policy, but that's going to be hit and miss with item lock. Maybe also tech in a silent lab? Just throwing out some ideas.

 

[Serperior]

I don't think Shiinotic is worth the space. Your focus in Lurantis/Plume needs to be the Vileplume, and I would rather make room for Level Ball and Ultra Ball than clogging the deck up with another Pokémon line. I don't think you exactly need another Stage-1 line to partner with this deck. The Tauros might be a cute idea, but frankly I would focus on streaming Lurantis.

 

[Unaki]

So I've toyed with Mantis Lock for almost a week and have a roughly 65% winrate with it, going through various changes. I want to say Shiinotic is really not worth the space. You're better off saving the two spaces for 1-1 Shiinotic and adding another level ball. The AOR eeveelutions are all level ball and even timer ball targets. In my testing Shiinotic makes sense but isn't really right because most of the time you're searching you are either ultra balling for a piece of Vileplume, Shaymin OR Lurantis. After one or two turns and getting all your pieces through Shiinotic is a dead card on the bench doing literally nothing.

 

[My Little Keldeo]

Improving the Volcanion matchup feels like a lost cause, and thanks to both Luranits-GX and Decidueye-GX, its popularity is likely to increase. The best strategy I've found is taking a play from the books of older Vileplume builds and including Jolteon-EX and a couple le of basic Lightning Energy. In addition to being a semi-reliable out to Volcanion, it will also improve the Yveltal-EX / Tauros-GX matchup. Both decks will need to use Pokémon Ranger (which the latter usually doesn't run) to damage Jolteon or Lysandre around it. Be careful about adding more Stage 1 Pokemon. This is a deck that already had two evolution lines and Item lock. The best tech cards are often Basic Pokémon because they take up little space.