Yoga Kick (Medicham / Landorus EX)

[Pipotchi]

Pokemon:

• 
  3-3 Medicham (Multi-Strike)
  3 Landorus-EX
  2 Landorus (Furious Fists)
  2 Hawlucha

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

• 
  3 Switch
  1 Escape Rope
  2 Ultra Ball
  3 Muscle Band
  1 Silver Bangle
  3 Fighting Stadium
  1 Computer Search
  1 Sacred Ash
  1 Bicycle
  2 VS seeker
  
  4 N
  4 Sycamore
  3 Korrina
  2 Lysandre
  1 Teammates
  2 Iris

Energy:

• 
  4 Strong Energy
  9 Fighting Energy

Strategy:

Spoiler: card scans

Gaia Volcano looks like a really fun expansion so I want to make this deck!
Yoga Kick is dirty. Being fighting type it can get all sorts of modifiers for both hits, meaning it can hit for 90 with musc band, fighting stadium, and strong energy to knock out any EX.

This becomes more powerful when the opponents field is weakened in advance, so Medicham can knock out the active in one hit and then there is nothing to safely switch into the second hit, giving 2 knockouts in a turn. This makes Landorus-EX a perfect start, able to give the deck a strong early prize lead whilst also getting a lot of damage on the opponent's bench before it gets knocked out.
In addition to Landorus EX, Hawlucha is another way to get quick damage on the opponents for 1 energy, as well as handling Seismitoad EX quite well, while a heavy number of switching cards allow for the other pokemon to easily switch at the right time in order for Medicham to attack at the right time.
Regular Landorus is a way to get energy back from the discard, as well as accelerate energy onto Medicham.

Basically Landorus EX is a pokemon that starts very strongly, and can have problems closing out a game. Medicham is a pokemon that can close out a game when things are appropriately weakened, especially with additional damage such as Iris. So hopefully that is enough to win some matches!

 

[Ivy_Profen]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Cofagrigus)

I was actually thinking about something similar to this. I dont know how important cofagrigus is to this deck. I think it might make it too clunky with all those evolutions. Though you might look into a better way to accelerate energy than an attack. maybe milotic, maybe exp share. Also i feel like you should always play at least 3 korrina its too good not to.

Maybe try 2-3 landorus and try to get it turn 1 to start setting up energy.

A trump card might also be nice to reuse those strong energy that you are bound to lose.

 

[Pipotchi]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Cofagrigus)

I was actually thinking about something similar to this. I dont know how important cofagrigus is to this deck. I think it might make it too clunky with all those evolutions. Though you might look into a better way to accelerate energy than an attack. maybe milotic, maybe exp share. Also i feel like you should always play at least 3 korrina its too good not to.

Maybe try 2-3 landorus and try to get it turn 1 to start setting up energy.

A trump card might also be nice to reuse those strong energy that you are bound to lose.

Thanks for feedback ^^
I thought about Milotic but attaching 3 energy to Medicham is overkill when none of them are strong energy and it only needs 2 to attack. I think Cofagrigus is kinda important, knocking out two EX pokemon at the end of the game cleanly is really strong and its hard to otherwise drop prizes for Iris whilst keeping my chams and machamps intact. But I agree its a bit clunky, I will try and see what can be done about it..

 

[GadgetJax]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Cofagrigus)

Yeah, I don't think Cofagrigus is the best match for this deck. Instead, you might want to consider a Colorless Psychic Type attacker to get rid of Mewtwo-EX's that would otherwise wreck Medicham. A 2-2 line of Revenge Toxicroak might be sufficient, but I don't know.

 

[Pipotchi]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Cofagrigus)

I thought of another solution which doesn't involve cofagrigus- landorus EX would be a good addition because he can clean up pokemon that are left at 30hp from cham. That's also good because he's an early game attack that could soften up a team and act as a big wall while I set up some chams (and this way round works a lot better because it allows for 2 prize turns).

Regarding mewtwo, Im not sure if he is a problem any more than any other pokemon that hits for big damage because cham's weakness barely even matters with 90hp, it gets knocked out by most neutral attacks.. and he can also ko a mewtwo with a yoga kick so I dont think a toxicroak line is too necessary. Im kinda expecting chams to die, which is fine because the prize trades will likely be in my favour with multi-strike.

Also putting in Landorus EX gave me room to add 1 Teammates and 1 Korrina. I think teammates will be a good card just for the same reason as Iris.. Medichams will get knocked out (as well regular landorus) and teammates will be a good way at the beginning to bounce back from being knocked out as well as search for strong energy- whereras Iris is more for the middle/end of the game. Also with Landorus EX I think I can drop my Irises down to 1.. which might seem a bit disappointing but I can use them 3 times with VS Seeker and putting another baby landorus into the deck seems to be for the best. With 2 Landorus EX I can rely a lot more on not having to take such clean knockouts because pokemon will have a lot of residual damage on them.

So the new battle plan is:
start as a landorus EX deck. take early momentum, and then when landorus EX tends to fall off, you can switch in medicham and start taking big two prize turns.

 

[pokedan24]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Cofagrigus)

One thing you could try is Celebi EX (or the memory shrine stadium) to use Meditites attack for only 1 energy. Celebi might be the better choice coz fighting stadium is what you want to run in these kind of decks. Much easier to stream attackers that can attack for one energy.

 

[Pipotchi]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

I dont think I'm really trying to stream medichams anymore since this deck last changed, I now have 5 other single energy attackers to fall back on. I think it would be ok to step back and spend time attacking with other pokemon too. But maybe I can try out Celebi once I am able to make the deck



edit: I'm wondering if the Machamp line can be cut down a bit. Machamp is really good but honestly I only need 1 in play for Medicham to get to work on getting ohkos without strong energy and it might be clouding the deck a bit. So I am thinking of dropping it to a 2-2 line, since it really is not a hugely important pokemon to get set up quickly. with the extra cards I could have another VS Seeker and an escape rope, and also put in another muscle band... which will probably be more help with consistency.

 

[Dark Espeon]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

Hi Pipotchi,

Nice deck. Consider these modifications:

- 1 Machop (two Machamp are sufficient)
- 1 Machoke (two Machamp are sufficient)
- 1 Machamp (two Machamp are sufficient)
- 1 Sacred Ash )not needed with the broader focus)

+ 1 Vs Seeker (three one would be awesome with all the tech supporters)
+ 1 Archie's Hidden Trick (bench a discarded Machamp and fill the hand)
+ 1 Professor Sycamore (you need more draw)
+ 1 Silver Bangle (nice with all the attackers)

Personally I would also cut one Landorus or a second Hawlucha. If you do run two Escape Rope instead of two Switches. Hope this provides some assistance.

 

[Green777]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

I don't know if someone else posted this idea,... but consider Medicham with focus sash ! nobody can KO it with one attack and it can heal itself easily and attack at the same time!

 

[Elbow]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

I think your deck has too many concepts going on at once. It needs a balance between consistency and a good deck. Here's my opinion:
- 3-1-3 Machamp line
- 2 rare candy
- 1 Iris
- 1 fighting energy
- 1 Switch
- 1 Muscle Band
= -13
+ 1-1 Medicham line
+1 Hawlucha
+ 1 Ultra Ball
+ 2 Colress
+ 1 Maxies Hidden Trick
+ 1 Focus Sash/Energy Switch (60th)
+ 1 Lysandre
+ 1 Escape Rope
+ 2 Silver Bangle
+ 1 Mr. Mime
= +13
(61st card is a prof's letter)

Why do you need a machamp line if you are OHKOing all non-mega EXs with Medicham? Yes the 20 extra damage is useful, but if you can't KO with medicham then you are probably going to use Hammerhead a turn or 2 later...so the machamps are kind of useless. They also make the deck more inconsistent and actually worsen the Seismatoad matchup by drawing into rare candies and machamps and such.
Iris is also bad. Again, adding that extra damage is easy with a muscle band or bangle. Iris is very situational and if you use it you are probably losing anyways.
With the 2 baby landos, you don't need as much fighting as you have there.
Switching a switch for an escape rope, it can be clutch in some games.
Also dropping 1 muscle band for 2 silver bangles. They are much better if you plan to be attacking EXs twice, it does 100+100 to EXs, which can make the difference against Yveltal W/Hard charm (resistance and minus 20 damage).
Adding in a 1-1 medicham line to fill in the list. The deck will be easier to set up with more medichams and ultra balls to search for the decks needed pokemon.
Another Hawlucha might be good for the deck, hitting for the extra damage for 1 energy will be great while setting up a benched medicham.
Colress is for more draw support, which you don't have too much IMHO, but its good enough.
Maxies hidden trick can go really well with ultra ball or comp search. It is only a 1 of because it works with VS seeker and is a little situational, but is very beneficial.
1 more lysandre for catcher effect, many times you need to draw into the lysandre rather than searching for it.
Mr. Mime because Meditite only has 50 hp.
Focus Sash/Energy switch is in because medicham is KOed very easily. It can help a damaged guy go on a little longer/conserve energy.

I think this deck can work well with the changes. I know the deck is different, but having 2 different evo lines would be too difficult in this format (such as pyroar-emboar, it doesn't work, despite the synergy). I DO plan on trying out this type of deck when the set comes out, so thats why I wanted to give you my own personal opinions on the deck. Take them or leave them, but I do think that some changes should be made to the list.
Thanks for reading
~Elbow

 

[Pipotchi]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

I don't know if someone else posted this idea,... but consider Medicham with focus sash ! nobody can KO it with one attack and it can heal itself easily and attack at the same time!

could be an option but i dont know exactly what calm mind does yet, perhaps this could work though.

I think your deck has too many concepts going on at once. It needs a balance between consistency and a good deck. Here's my opinion:
- 3-1-3 Machamp line
- 2 rare candy
- 1 Iris
- 1 fighting energy
- 1 Switch
- 1 Muscle Band
= -13
+ 1-1 Medicham line
+1 Hawlucha
+ 1 Ultra Ball
+ 2 Colress
+ 1 Maxies Hidden Trick
+ 1 Focus Sash/Energy Switch (60th)
+ 1 Lysandre
+ 1 Escape Rope
+ 2 Silver Bangle
+ 1 Mr. Mime
= +13
(61st card is a prof's letter)

Why do you need a machamp line if you are OHKOing all non-mega EXs with Medicham? Yes the 20 extra damage is useful, but if you can't KO with medicham then you are probably going to use Hammerhead a turn or 2 later...so the machamps are kind of useless. They also make the deck more inconsistent and actually worsen the Seismatoad matchup by drawing into rare candies and machamps and such.
Iris is also bad. Again, adding that extra damage is easy with a muscle band or bangle. Iris is very situational and if you use it you are probably losing anyways.
With the 2 baby landos, you don't need as much fighting as you have there.
Switching a switch for an escape rope, it can be clutch in some games.
Also dropping 1 muscle band for 2 silver bangles. They are much better if you plan to be attacking EXs twice, it does 100+100 to EXs, which can make the difference against Yveltal W/Hard charm (resistance and minus 20 damage).
Adding in a 1-1 medicham line to fill in the list. The deck will be easier to set up with more medichams and ultra balls to search for the decks needed pokemon.
Another Hawlucha might be good for the deck, hitting for the extra damage for 1 energy will be great while setting up a benched medicham.
Colress is for more draw support, which you don't have too much IMHO, but its good enough.
Maxies hidden trick can go really well with ultra ball or comp search. It is only a 1 of because it works with VS seeker and is a little situational, but is very beneficial.
1 more lysandre for catcher effect, many times you need to draw into the lysandre rather than searching for it.
Mr. Mime because Meditite only has 50 hp.
Focus Sash/Energy switch is in because medicham is KOed very easily. It can help a damaged guy go on a little longer/conserve energy.

I think this deck can work well with the changes. I know the deck is different, but having 2 different evo lines would be too difficult in this format (such as pyroar-emboar, it doesn't work, despite the synergy). I DO plan on trying out this type of deck when the set comes out, so thats why I wanted to give you my own personal opinions on the deck. Take them or leave them, but I do think that some changes should be made to the list.
Thanks for reading
~Elbow

ill have a think about some of this later, but silver bangle is unnecessary because yoga kick ignores resistance. and i did actually consider completely removing machamp. i think that deck would be a lot more standard without machamp (for the reasons you mentioned), but my reasoning behind machamp (flawed as it may be) is because with all the damage modifiers, you can boost in order to knock out some key pokemon in single hits (garbodor, donphan hit previously by a hammerhead for 30, raichu, any other 110hp pokemon. it can also reach 130dmg which would completely end donphan decks as well as knock out any other big basic like kyurem or yveltal regular without wasting 80 dmg also afterwards. thanks for feedback, i do intend to at least cut down on the machamp count as least (as written above) ^^

 

[Elbow]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

"silver bangle is uneccessary because yoga kick ignores resistance"
This is true, but irrelevant. There are many factors where you'd want to do more damage. Like if your opponent has a hard charm on an EX, if you are missing strong energy/fighting stadium, a mega pokemon, etc. It is worst against non EX pokemon, but honestly you OHKO anything with 140 HP with 1 strong energy and the stadium anyways (which OHKOs donphan, outragers, wobbuffet, etc.). Also, the attack doesn't affect weakness, so you don't actually OHKO a m manectric EX unless if you have 2 strong energy, the stadium, and a silver bangle (110x2=220 damage), so muscle band is worst in that situation.
And Garb, Donphan, and Raichu (fighting weak) will probably NEVER be active against the medicham deck. You'll most likely see mewtwo EX, cobalion EX, or outragers, but not what you listed. Also Garb isn't problem for the deck...ancient traits are different than abilities.
Outside of OHKOing Megas, I really just can't see the point of the machamps, sorry. You already OHKO all EXs and non EXs, so what is the problem?
Edit: I don't mean to be so picky, but I do really like the concept of the deck and I think the deck will run smoother without machamp. Making the line thinner doesn't make consistency better because now you have a clunky 2-1-2 or some odd line of machamp in the deck that will be very difficult to get out onto the field. And parts of a small stage 2 lines struggle being prized (like the 2-0-2 lines of dusknoir in empoleon decks) can be difficult for players who rely on it.

 

[Pipotchi]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

"silver bangle is uneccessary because yoga kick ignores resistance"
This is true, but irrelevant. There are many factors where you'd want to do more damage. Like if your opponent has a hard charm on an EX, if you are missing strong energy/fighting stadium, a mega pokemon, etc. It is worst against non EX pokemon, but honestly you OHKO anything with 140 HP with 1 strong energy and the stadium anyways (which OHKOs donphan, outragers, wobbuffet, etc.). Also, the attack doesn't affect weakness, so you don't actually OHKO a m manectric EX unless if you have 2 strong energy, the stadium, and a silver bangle (110x2=220 damage), so muscle band is worst in that situation.
And Garb, Donphan, and Raichu (fighting weak) will probably NEVER be active against the medicham deck. You'll most likely see mewtwo EX, cobalion EX, or outragers, but not what you listed. Also Garb isn't problem for the deck...ancient traits are different than abilities.
Outside of OHKOing Megas, I really just can't see the point of the machamps, sorry. You already OHKO all EXs and non EXs, so what is the problem?
Edit: I don't mean to be so picky, but I do really like the concept of the deck and I think the deck will run smoother without machamp. Making the line thinner doesn't make consistency better because now you have a clunky 2-1-2 or some odd line of machamp in the deck that will be very difficult to get out onto the field. And parts of a small stage 2 lines struggle being prized (like the 2-0-2 lines of dusknoir in empoleon decks) can be difficult for players who rely on it.

The whole point of the machamps is not for ohkos on single pokemon, its for double ohkos on big basics. For instance vs donphan, everything in that deck has 130hp. If you have 130hp from attacks, you are knocking out two pokemon at once which is way better than hitting for 110hp and then wasting 90 damage on finishing off that pokemon. All of the points about clunkiness you made are justified but its something that Id want to play to see (like i said i already think the deck is more solid without machamps but its something that i wanted to try)

 

[Elbow]

RE: Yoga Kick (Medicham / Machamp / Landorus EX)

I understand what you are trying to do, but I honestly don't think it would work off well. You'd need a muscle band, 2 machamp, and 1 strong energy to do 130 damage, OHKOing any Donphan, outrager, or Wobbuffet. It might seem easy, but to get something like this on turn 2-3, which is actually the most important part of the game, would be very difficult. Empoleon players usually can get 1 empoleon set up by turn 2 if lucky, most likely turn 3, and that's just 1, of which you'd need 2 for large HP non-exs. You can also put on another strong energy, but resources get very tight when your main attacker has 90 hp. You also have to take into account that once you knock a donphan/whatever with the 1st attack, they aren't going to put up another main attacker for you to hit, so the extra damage might not even be worth it to KO a substitute or hit an outrager.

 

[Pipotchi]

I made some changes, including removing the Machamp for now since I think that would be the better deck (although my version is the "fun" version i guess i should write something more standard which can be changed based on what ppl want to play).

These were the additions after removing machamps:

+1 Iris
+1 Lysandre
+2 Fighting Energy
+1 Landorus-EX
+1 Sycamore
+1 Escape Rope
+1 Hawlucha
+1 Silver Bangle

Basically how the deck now works is more about softening things up with landorus-EX whilst probably taking an early prize lead. Instead of aiming to knock out one thing on the bench, Landorus can soften up everything, and then Medicham can come in after Landorus-EX goes down and start getting double knockouts in 1 turn with the combination of strong energy, muscle band, fighting stadium, and iris for 20 = 110 dmg. The math works out that 170hp EXs can't move into the active after 2 bench hits, and big basics like donphan can't move into the active after 1 bench hit. The numbers are quite favourable for this deck once a pokemon or 2 get knocked out and Iris provides that bonus 10 or 20 damage.
I now added an escape rope so I have 4 switching cards (and 2 free retreaters), because being able to switch more freely between all these different pokemon is important to conserve damage, and Landorus EX has 3 retreat cost.
I added another Landorus-EX because I;m wanting to start with this pokemon. I also added another Hawlucha because another free retreater adds flexibility as well as another single energy attacker, plus my deck has a slight seismitoad problem and hawlucha can hit seismitoad for a lot of damage.

This version looks a lot more consistent, but I wonder if 16 supporters is overkill. I could perhaps drop the teammates, and turn an N and sycamore into extra bicycles? Since this deck really does need to play those lysandres and iris to reach its full potential. Im also considering dropping a switch to use scramble switch as my ace-spec- since this deck doesnt necessarily depend on computer search. and then I would have an extra card to play 1 enhanced hammer.
I could also mess with the VS seeker, teammates and Iris numbers and perhaps add something like a single Xerosic.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Pipotchi,

Nice deck. It seems to be a lot more stable now. Consider these modifications:

- 3 Switch (like Escape Rope better with hit and run in format and Hawlucha's free retreat)
- 1 Landorus (one should be sufficient since he does not hit hard)
- 1 Sacred Ash (does not seem to be needed)

+ 1 Escape Rope (disruption and switch)
+ 1 Silver Bangle (increase damage)
+ 2 Lucario Ex (nice attacker)
+ 1 Vs Seeker/Bicycle (more draw)

Added some more draw cards in the form of Lucario Ex and either a third VS Seeker or a second Bicycle. Lucario Ex also works wonders with late game N to draw a fresh hand and cribble the opponent.

Since [F] needs attack boosts the second Silver Bangle seemed to be needed. In case Pokémon EX are not that common in your local metagame trade it for a fourth Muscle Band.

With Hawlucha's free retreat and the prevalence of hit and run tactics a second Escape Rope seemed to be better than the three switches which were excessive since Medicham is a flying cannon ball and the same also holds true for Hawlucha.

With these modifications the deck is rather similar to mine with the exception of Computer Search instead of Dowsing Maschine but that is a matter of preference. Hope this provides some initial assistance.

 

[Pipotchi]

I dont really understand the justification behind escape ropes? surely they offer the same hit and run tactics as switch, and i want to be hitting the pokemon that i have built damage up with with the first attack so i can hit them with medicham, knocking out the damaged active and then pressuring the new switch-in with a second attack. and having ways out of the active is going to be really important in order to switch landorus-EX out with a 3 retreat cost just as part of the strategy,

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi Pipotchi,

Hit and run referred to Gengar and Donphan decks that tend to send out Robots or other Pokémon that either cannot be hit or have a drawback for you when you attack them. Escape Rope allows you to switch them around. With two Escape Rope and two lysandre in addition to three Vs Seekers such tactics become a lot less detremental for your deck. In addition it also allows you to switch out your active Pokémon but since none of them attack for more than two energie and Hawluchu has free retreat this should not be an issue and could even assist you since you most likely start to spread damage with Landorus Ex until Medicham is able to attack.

 

[Pipotchi]

I just dont imagine they would switch in their attacker if I use an escape rope, and just switch to another benched wall, whereas it severely hurts the purpose of my deck against all other types of decks. Adding another VS Seeker to use more lysandres might be a better idea but I can already use 4 which might be enough. Remember that Landorus-EX can also knock out a subsitute robot and deal damage to the bench at the same time, and Medicham can do the same thing- I think this deck naturally does well against the Donphan decks because of that? It can already put benched damage on donphan/gengar (plus benched damage isn't reduced by gengar's resistance) and then knock it out with a lysandre. I could also find room for a startling megaphone in the deck.