HGSS-on BearPlume

[ShiningLion]

Here is my Beartic Vileplume deck. (Updated 9/25/11)

I've done a pretty good deal of testing with this including using it at battle roads, where I went 3-2 with it.

Pokemon (25)
2 Cleffa
2-2 Zoroark
2-2 Dodrio
4-4 Beartic
3-2-2 Vileplume

T/S/S (20)
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
4 Copycat
3 Pokemon Collector
3 Rare Candy
3 PETM
2 Pokemon Communication
1 Flowershop Lady

Energy (14)
4 Double Colorless Energy
10 Water Energy

Strategy:

Get Vileplume and Beartic set up ASAP to trainer lock and use Sheer Cold to prevent your opponent to attacking. They'll have to evolve or retreat in order to attack. Zoroark is a tech against RDL, Reshiram, Zekrom, Yanmega... etc. and Dodrio helps you to retreat pokemon easily to switch them out when you need to bring in a different one. This especially helps with Beartic's 3 energy retreat cost. Dodrio and Zoroark should be set up as needed. They aren't as high priority as Beartic and Vileplume. You can run this deck just fine with only those two in most situations.

 

[xVRevanVx]

Wow! I really love this idea and it seems absolutely nasty to deal with and completely debilitating. I would in no way want to ever face a build like this. My concern looking with the deck is the speed to set up. I get the Vileplume idea and can see how it works, especially with Pichu. There's a lot of faith being put in to a good first draw. I'm just unlucky, so maybe you have better luck than I do, but the number of Elm's and PONTs is high. I've loved using Sage's Training to help speed through a deck in conjunction with Junipers, but I've also never run a lock deck, so I'm not sure if discarding your hand is a viable option. Speedwise, if you don't get set up by turn 3 at the latest you might be way behind enough for your opponent to have something to counter, plus they could always Catcher one Oddish then a Gloom to rip your lock out from under you. 28 pokemon also seems like a lot. You might just want to drop the Bellossom (I know it's a Donphan counter) or even the Zoroarks; there's only so much you can prepare for. Judge might be a viable replacement to royally bury your opponent deep into the trainer lock. Just my humble opinions. Your list looks absolutely magnificent!

 

[ShiningLion]

Thank you for your feedback on it.

I've been thinking of possibly dropping Zoroark, and possibly Bellossom too. That would clear up space for some more supporters to help me set up quicker. Also, with some of these pokemon and energies in such low numbers, it seems that a supporter to help search my deck might be crucial. Then again Zoroark might be ideal for that as well. I may need to look into using a few twins instead of the Cherens. That way if I lose a pokemon at the beginning due to slow setup I can begin to search my deck for exactly what I need to counter them. I think that might work a little better.

Also, using some Judge and Team Rocket's Trickery could be an interesting alternative to the copycats and Cherens....

It definitely needs some work, and I have not had the chance to play it yet! I will try to ASAP, but I'm waiting on a few cards (if only I had printer ink, I'd proxy them haha).

 

[psychicpokemon]

question why is your line 3-2-2 it should probably be 2-1-2 and I'd also do 4 water and 3 rainbow without putting rainbows on beartic unless you have to bec like you said it's going to hurt him save rainbows for zeky and in the event where you can't seem to get beartic up fast enough in that sense you can drop bellossom outside of that the deck looks good maybe more supporters....

 

[ShiningLion]

question why is your line 3-2-2

I may not need two glooms, but the 3 oddish is because it can get catchered or sniped very early in the game with its measly 40 HP. I'm afraid they will get KO'd easily, so 3 oddish to prepare for that. If they are running Yanmega, I'll need to bench 2 to ensure that if they snipe one I still have one to evolve.

More water energy is probably a good idea, and maybe one less rainbow. I may try that.

And yeah, Bellossom probably needs to go.

 

[Stuart Hayden]

This is a really cool idea. And I understand why you have a lot of the tech in there (bellossom, dodrio, zoroark) they don't really seem needed. Like a lot of other people have mentioned. It just seems like TOO many pokemon. Especially since they are evolution lines.

Should also maybe try a tyrogue and cleffa. Or atleast a cleffa.

So maybe

Pokemon:
Cleffa
Tyrogue
2 Pichu
1-1 Zoroark (B/W)
2-2 Slowking (HGSS)
2-1-2 Vileplume (UD)
3-3 Beartic (Sheer Cold)

T/S/S:
2 Twins
2 Cheren
4 Switch
4 Rare Candy
4 PETM
4 PONT
4 Team Rocket Trickery

Energy:
4 Rainbow
4 DCE
7 Water

Edit: After reading everyone's responses and my own research this is more or less what I came up with.
If you have them with trainer lock. They have no way to get back their discard or draw. So TRT could potentially leave them with only 1 card to play every turn while you sweep their team.
Added the extra (W) just to be safe. Added 1-1 B/W Zoroark since he's generally a good tech against any type of deck and he's fast to get out.

Switch replaces the dodrio.
Dropped the Dark Energy for Cheren. You could put back in Zekron and the Dark Energies if you want. Probably drop the TRT's or the 1-1 Zoroark Line and the Cheren's.

You could still do the -Cleffa +Oddish if you still wanted to run the 3-1-2 Vileplume Line.

You should still consider running Judges though. I just couldn't find room for them, honestly. But I know there are for your Slowking Prime. Again, you could probably drop the Cheren's for them or something.

 

[xVRevanVx]

Looking at this again, you might want to drop the rainbows and drop some of the techs to help out the speed and consistency. You'll be really vulnerable to Bellsprout though.

 

[Stuart Hayden]

Looking at this again, you might want to drop the rainbows and drop some of the techs to help out the speed and consistency. You'll be really vulnerable to Bellsprout though.

If you can get the Beartic/Vileplume lock off there isn't a lot they can do. And if for whatever reason they tech bellsprout...just use switch or Pokemon Catcher if he decides to run it.

Maybe something like this?

Pokemon:
Cleffa
2 Zekrom
1-1 Zoroark (B/W)
2-2 Slowking (HGSS)
2-1-2 Vileplume (UD)
3-3 Beartick (Sheer Cold)

T/s/S
2 Rare Candy
2 Pokemon Collector
2 Pokemon Catcher
2 Cheren
4 Team Rocket Trickery
4 Switch
4 PETM
4 PONT

Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
4 DCE
8 Water

You could probably drop a few switches, maybe even Rainbow energies for something else. Maybe Twins, Bianca, Judge, Juniper. But with Cleffa, PONT Cheren and TRT, that seems like plenty of draw power for a this style of deck. Pokemon wise you could probably max out Beartic line or add the Dodrio line.

I'm actually fairly interested in this deck and want to build it once it gets a somewhat final draft to it.

 

[neumann44]

If you can get the Beartic/Vileplume lock off there isn't a lot they can do. And if for whatever reason they tech bellsprout...just use switch or Pokemon Catcher if he decides to run it.

Maybe something like this?



You could probably drop a few switches, maybe even Rainbow energies for something else. Maybe Twins, Bianca, Judge, Juniper. But with Cleffa, PONT Cheren and TRT, that seems like plenty of draw power for a this style of deck. Pokemon wise you could probably max out Beartic line or add the Dodrio line.

I'm actually fairly interested in this deck and want to build it once it gets a somewhat final draft to it.

how will you use switch and cathcer if you allready have vileplume`???

 

[Stuart Hayden]

how will you use switch and cathcer if you allready have vileplume`???

Ah. Truth bombs.
But you don't really expect to get the combo off second turn do you?

Maybe this then?

Pokemon:
Cleffa
2 Zekrom
1-1 Zoroark (B/W)
2-2 Slowking (HGSS)
2-1-2 Vileplume (UD)
3-3 Beartick (Sheer Cold)

T/S/S
2 Rare Candy
2 Pokemon Collector
4 Cheren
4 Twins
4 Team Rocket Trickery
4 PETM
4 PONT

Energy
2 Dark Energy Special
4 Rainbow Energy
4 DCE
6 Water

 

[ShiningLion]

Ah. Truth bombs.
But you don't really expect to get the combo off second turn do you?

I'm still working on this deck quite a bit. One of the things I was thinking about is that there are two directions I could go with it for draw power.

One is to use Copycats, since they'll be getting a bunch of trainers stuck in their hand. This method seems quicker for setup on my end, as Copycats still get you a good refresh early in the game compared to Judge.

The other is quite the opposite approach. Judges and team Rocket's Trickery to try to take away all their potential draw power and make the Slowking more effective. I think this approach might be the better of the two.

Also I have an idea for getting the Vileplume set up second turn!

Twins!

They'll probably KO Pichu as soon as I use him or shortly thereafter (or donk with Tyrogue, god forbid). I may as well leave Pichu active until he is KO'd just to buy me some time. After using pichu to get an oddish on my bench, I'll try to get a twins and use it turn two for a rare candy and Vileplume. If I use this strategy, I'll probably cut the vileplume line down to 3-1-2 or 3-1-3. I may need a third pichu, but I see no need for a Tyrogue. If I can't find a twins on turn two, I'll try to get Zoroark evolved and active and Nasty Plot for whatever I need to set up Vileplume on turn 3 (rare candy, vileplume, or twins).

I am probably going to run 2-4 twins in this deck. I'm still really trying to figure out exactly which supporters to use. But other than that...

- 1 Bellossom
+ 1 Water Energy

I'm still not worried much about the rainbow energies on Beartic, because if Beartic is doing what Beartic is good for, he will not be taking damage. Also, the rainbows on Zoroark can foul play for a Twins, Team Rocket, or a hand refresh supporter if I'm in a bind, or a special darkness energy if I need to put the whoopin on a zekrom or reshiram, and 90 HP Zoroark is not going to be knocked out a turn quicker than 100 HP Zoroark, as far as I can tell (out of what is currently popular in the format).

I may also take out the Dodrio tech. I'm not yet sure on that one. Gonna have to do some testing once I get all the cards together (I don't even have them all yet! I'm still waiting on a couple in the mail. haha)

---------- Post added 08/30/2011 at 06:00 AM ----------

I'm actually fairly interested in this deck and want to build it once it gets a somewhat final draft to it.

This is my somewhat final draft. I'm gonna run with this for a while and see where it takes me.

Pokemon: 24

3-3 Beartic
3-1-2 Vileplume
2 Zekrom
2-2 Slowking
2 Pichu
2-2 Zoroark

Trainers: 22

4 PONT
4 Twins
3 PETM
3 Judge
3 Team Rocket's Trickery
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Rare Candy


Energy: 14

4 Double Colorless Energy
4 Rainbow Energy
2 Special Darkness Energy
4 Water Energy

I'm kind of sad that without the Dodrio line, I can't boast my deck having 6 types. Hahaha! :lol: 5 will have to do! Much better number anyway!

 

[Stuart Hayden]

snip

I'm comfortable with the set up I have going right now. I'll build my version and we can compare notes.

Edit:
I actually changed it a bit. I went -2 Water Energy for +2 Darkness (Special) and I might -2 Cheren for +2 Judge and play test off that.
There are local leagues 3 times a week around where I live so I can get in plenty of play testing.

 

[ShiningLion]

I like that you have more water energy and a nice full supporter lineup.

What would worry me with your build is needing Zoroark and having him or Zorua end up in the prize cards.

Same issue with Oddish in a Yanmega match. If I see Yanma turn 1 and I'm going second I'm going to be pulling 2 oddishes on my first turn so that it doesn't get sniped and cost me my trainer lock. I have 3 oddish just in case one gets KO'd early, and one could end up in the prize cards. Then at least I'd still have one chance.

If I find that Pichu is giving my opponent too much edge, I will switch the Pichus for Cleffas. It's going to take a good deal of testing to figure out!

 

[Stuart Hayden]

I like that you have more water energy and a nice full supporter lineup.

What would worry me with your build is needing Zoroark and having him or Zorua end up in the prize cards.

That could be said about any card. Both rare candies could end up Prizes, or both Vileplumes...so on and so forth.
I'm confidant in this build as of now.

If they end up dead cards I'll just replace them completely. B/W Zoroark is a great tech card but if it ends up dead weight than it ends up dead weight and I'll take it out. Not much else I can do.

This is what play testing is for.

WOOO

 

[ShiningLion]

That could be said about any card. Both rare candies could end up Prizes, or both Vileplumes...so on and so forth.
I'm confidant in this build as of now.

If they end up dead cards I'll just replace them completely. B/W Zoroark is a great tech card but if it ends up dead weight than it ends up dead weight and I'll take it out. Not much else I can do.

This is what play testing is for.

WOOO

Well, having only one of a card certainly doubles your chances that it will end up prize locked, versus having 2 of it.

But if you're going to stick with just one Zoroark, I'm not sure you're going to need 2 special darkness energies. I'd feel more comfortable with 2-2 Zoroark and no special darkness (the rainbows can fulfill his requirement for Nasty Plot). The Special darkness is really only good against Zekrom/Reshiram for the boost you need to OHKO. But for that matter, I'd use Beartic against either of them, especially if the trainer lock is in place.

 

[Stuart Hayden]

hm. Valid point. I'll give it some thought
I'm buying all the cards I need on Friday when I get paid. I'll ponder about that until then.

I won't be able to play test until next week since I'll be out of town and work.

 

[ShiningLion]

Sounds good. I will be play testing mine as soon as a few cards arrive in the mail, and testing this at league next weekend. I'll post my reactions and any modifications I might need at that point.

 

[vaporeon]

You need Dodrio for this deck or you'll almost auto lose to Zororak. You'll need to be able to retreat in case Vileplume get's dragged up or if you're locked by Pidgeot or Zororak. You don't want to get stuck paying 3 energy to retreat because you don't have many options to get them back other then Fishermen. You'll want to use your supporter drop to help you get back in the game.

 

[Stuart Hayden]

You need Dodrio for this deck or you'll almost auto lose to Zororak. You'll need to be able to retreat in case Vileplume get's dragged up or if you're locked by Pidgeot or Zororak. You don't want to get stuck paying 3 energy to retreat because you don't have many options to get them back other then Fishermen. You'll want to use your supporter drop to help you get back in the game.

The only thing I can thing of is dropping Zoroark. Or go 1-1 Zoroark 1-1 Dodrio. Iunno.

 

[mttracy3543]

Pokemon: 24

3-3 Beartic
+1-1 beartic
3-2-2 Vileplume
+2-1-2 feraligatr prime (energy accelration is very important)
+1-0-1 politoad ( this deck lose to mewplume because they drag up important pokes and snipe everything around, the power alllows you to choose a :water: pokemon on your bench and switch it with your active)
+2 manaphy early draw support

Trainers: 22
4Rare Candy/ -1 rare candy
3 PETM
4 PONT/ -1 pont
3 Copycat- 1 copycat
3 Pokemon Collector
2 Cheren/ +1 cheren
+3 professor juniper
+2 flower shop lady

Energy: 14

4 Double Colorless Energy
4 Rainbow Energy/ - 4 rainbow
2 Special Darkness Energy/ -2 sp. dark
3 Water Energy + 7 water

these are my suggestions i have exactly what i have just suggested you i love it i kid you not politoad is a necessary card because mew/vileplume/yanmega is nasty and you want to stay ahead of them at all times but these are my suggestions on what you should change also plz update your original post if you havent updated your changes.