The New Rock-Lock? Entry Hazards Galore!

[DawnOfXatu]

So I was just thinking about all of the new cards that we will be getting in Triumphant, and I was struck by the Lunatone and Solrock. I know that they are not anything too special, in fact they are rather bad, but I have always been partial to building a working Lunasol deck. However after reviewing the other Lunatone and Solrock that I had to work with, I realized that I was going to need some extra damage in order to do anything, so I took the easy way out and added some GHQ and some Miasma Valley but that was not enough, I needed even more ways to load up my opponents Pokemon with extra damage counters. I considered Skarmory FB but decided against it, as I had found a better alternative, Absol Prime. With Absol as my active Pokemon, I would be able to deal even more residual damage when my opponent played down a Pokemon, and it isn't even an attack. I got the extra damage that I would have received with Skarmory, and I get to attack with Absol during my startup. However Absol's attack did pose yet another issue, what would I do against the new Lost World Stadium? If I am going to attack with Absol, then I would definitely need a way to counter this card that could end my game prematurely. The only way I feel that I can avoid this, is to disrupt my opponent's game using cards such as Chatot G, Spiritomb, and Judge. The disruption was nice, but it also left me asking for more. With the inclusion of Chatot G and Spiritomb I began to feel that I needed a way to place damage counters in a faster manner. Chatot G led me to feel that Crobat G and Poketurn would be good additions to the deck. Spiritomb reminded me of it's predecessor Spiritomb who also was able to place damage counters. So now I had everything except the basics. So I added myself some Uxie, an Azelf and even an Uxie Lv.X into the deck. It all flowed so smoothly, but I felt the need to toss in an Unown Q just to make sure that I could retreat when I needed to. I also noticed that I was susceptible to Mewtwo Lv.X so I had to add yet another counter into the deck. This time I added a 1-1 Drifblim so that I could knock out the Mewtwo. The deck preformed very well, the initial spread given by Absol and the Stadiums is very devastating to my opponents start up, and when coupled with the added damage given by Spiritomb and Crobat G, the damage quickly starts to overwhelm my opponent. Most players would try to heal off the damage, particularly with Garchomp C Lv.X but alas Solrock blocks that. The other Solrock and Lunatone help out with the deck by adding more consistency to my drawpower (Solrock) and by giving me immunity to Lv.Xs and spreading against my opponent (Lunatone). Everything comes together to work my opponents Pokemon into a weak and useless state, hopefully winning me the game.

Translations:

Lunatone - Fighting - HP 60
Basic Pokemon
[F] Luna Blast: 20 damage.
[F][C] Self-Destruct: 60 damage. This Pokemon also does 60 damage to itself. Each player’s Benched Pokemon all take 10 damage. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance when damaging the Bench.)
Weakness: Grass (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

Solrock - Fighting - HP 70
Basic Pokemon
Poke-Body: Heal Block
If you have any Lunatone in play, neither player’s Pokemon can recover any HP.
[F] Sun Flash: 20 damage. During your opponent’s next turn, when the Pokemon that was hit by this attack uses an attack, your opponent flips a coin, if tails the attack fails.
Weakness: Grass (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

Absol (Prime) - Darkness - HP80
Basic Pokemon
Poke-Body: Eye of Disaster
As long as this Pokemon is your Active Pokemon, whenever your opponent plays a Basic Pokemon from his or her hand onto the Bench, place 2 damage counters on that Pokemon.
[D][C] Bloody Claw: 70 damage. Place 1 Pokemon card from your hand in the Lost Zone. If you can’t place a Pokemon card in your Lost Zone, this attack fails.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: Psychic (-20)
Retreat: 1

Lost World - Stadium
Each player may, during his or her turn, end the game and declare himself or herself the winner if the opponent has 6 or more Pokemon cards in his or her Lost Zone.

Spiritomb - Psychic - HP60
Basic Pokemon
Poke-Power: Engulfing Whirlpool
You can use this power once during your turn, when you play this card from your hand onto your Bench. Your opponent returns his or her entire hand to his or her deck and shuffles the deck. Then, your opponent draws 6 cards from his or her deck.
[P] Color Ogre: Choose 1 Type from Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Steel, and Colorless. Place 1 damage counter on each of your opponent’s Pokemon of the chosen Type.
Weakness: none
Resistance: Colorless (-20)
Retreat: 1

Oh Yeah The List So Far:
4 Absol Prime (Triumphant)
1 Solrock (Triumphant)
1 Solrock (Supreme Victors)
2 Lunatone (Supreme Victors)
1 Spiritomb (Triumphant)
1 Spiritomb (Legends Awakened)
1 Chatot G (Supreme Victors)
2 Crobat G (Platinum)
1 Unown Q (Majestic Dawn)
1 Uxie Lv.X (Legends Awakened)
2 Uxie (Legends Awakened)
1 Azelf (Legends Awakened)
1 Drifblim (Undaunted)
1 Drifloon (Majestic Dawn)
(20)

 

[The Fallen One]

Quite the deck idea you have going. It does look really good on paper, but have you tested to see how consistent this is? I would assume so since you mentioned how well it works thanks to Absol's fast start. Personally I find this whole thing a bit too tech-centered but it looks like it could be a very interesting play for CCs. I would also throw in cards like Looker's Investigation, maybe Giratina PL if you think you can handle yet another tech. You really have to watch out for that Lost World stadium.

 

[varit]

i think there was a previous discussion somewhere using the basis of metagross sv + miasma valley + absol prime= boom, something like that. however your combo has a few hole's, 60-70 hp, x2 grass weakness and only lock's attacks and hp? attacks and hp, lol, if anything i can see more use of this as a tech in a machamp deck to shutdown sp deck's even more. cya

 

[DawnOfXatu]

Yeah I have been testing this deck out for a couple of days now, and it seems to be doing rather well. As far as starts go it is your general 50-50. If I go first, I better have an Absol, otherwise my start seems a little lackluster, but if I go second I can always Q my way to an Absol start.

The deck is tech oriented, but it has been so long since the days of Deoxys and decks that were just a pile of techs and trainers, I started to reminisce and then I just made this deck, having fun and preforming well has always been my goal, and if I have to sacrifice a bit of performance to make sure I have my fun, then so be it.

I do play a single copy of Lookers in my list, and it does help from time to time, but the general rule with Lookers has always been; "You only use it when you need the 5 cards, never to actually disrupt your opponent." I prefer Judge to Looker simply because I can disrupt and get some new cards at the same time.

Giratina was constantly an option throughout the entire deck building, but what I found was that the energy costs were just too high to be able to be used as an attacker, and it just was not worth the risk of starting with Giratina during trainer locks. Spiritomb can do the job just as well, as long as you are able to monitor your opponents face while they draw, and be ready to slap down a Judge if things look iffy.

As for problems that the deck has faced, there has only been one, and that was Donphan Prime with and ERL tech. A quick Donphan can be hard to overcome, and if they get lucky with ERL they can be taking five or so prizes pretty quickly. I've gone 3-3 against the deck, with most of my victories coming from severe disruption from Judge and Pokemon Reversal.

Edit
As for what varit said, I do not plan on using Solrock and Lunatone as the main attackers throughout the entire game, in fact the game should be somewhat short. I hope to start with Absol and wear down my opponents starting Pokemon, then I can take a few prizes with Absol, and then hopefully spread with Lunatone and/or my other techs to take the last two or three prizes. As for the grass weakness thing, I don't see grass decks anywhere...

The deck is not about shutting down anything, instead it is about getting damage on the field and then carefully taking your prizes. Disruption also plays a decent role in the deck, but that is more to prevent anything that can counter the deck from getting out.

 

[varit]

now that alot of people are starting to tech in vileplume ud, and jumpluff took junior's, and usually this is the time when people are trying new deck's due to rotation and battle roads coming up, the likelihood of grass deck's popping up all over are kinda high. I know that this is a tech deck but the majority of tech's you put in there are one on one tech's, and or easy donk tech's which doesn't seem to fair all that well against deck's like kingdra, gyarados, and donphan who can t1 donk most of whats in your deck. as a suggestion for a deck tech that could probably set up your lune/sol combo faster, drifblim SF.

 

[Jade]

Ever consider mass spreaders like... Giratina Overslash + Lv.X, Obamasnow SF, Yanmega LA, Bronzong MD.

Peace.