Luxatos
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I've been playing around with, and tweaking this deck for a while... as of this moment, this is the list.
21 Pokemon (with links to key cards)
4 Cherubi
4 Cherrim
2 Cradily
2 Lileep
2 Shaymin (1 Damage Aid, 1 Aromatherapy)
2 Shaymin Lv.X (land form)
1 Baltoy
1 Claydol
1 Unown Q
2 Unown G
29 Trainer/Supporter/Stadiums
4 PlusPower
4 Buck's Training
2 Root Fossil
3 Rare Candy
4 Bebe's Search
3 Roseanne's Research
1 Luxury Ball
3 Fossil Excavator
1 Time Space Distortion
2 Night Maintenance
2 Dawn Stadium
10 Grass Energy
Cradily is the main attacker, with its 1-energy Drain Down being the main attack. It does 30 damage to basically anything you want to pull active, and if it KO's that Pokemon, Cradily is completely healed of all damage.
Cherrim is the main support, multiple copies increasing the damage Cradily does so the KO (and subsequent removal of damage) becomes more likely. Buck's Training and PlusPower are also maxed out here to help that along.
When Shaymin Lv.X is out, Cradily is a tank. A 160-HP Pokemon that can completely heal itself? Yes please! Plus, it gives the originally fragile Cherrims a much safer 120 HP. And as a small bonus, it has the ability, with the attack Seed Flare, to OHKO tougher Pokemon that Cradily or Cherrim would have a hard time with.
Unown Q is in here to help with the levelling up process, giving Shaymin free retreat. There have been quite a few times I've had a Cradily get knocked out, so I promote the Shaymin, level it up, attach Unown Q, evolve another Cradily (usually with Rare Candy) and retreat. There are other reasons you might want to have a Pokemon with no retreat cost, too, especially in a deck that doesn't run much energy at all.
Unown G and Claydol are staples in most decks, so I don't think I need to explain their presence here. I choose Claydol over Uxie because my bench spaces are precious (reserved for Cherrim and Shaymin).
Now for the cards I would have LIKED to include...
Azelf (with Time Walk) would have been useful if a key Pokemon (say, Baltoy or Claydol) is prized. This would, however, come at the price of a bench spot. In this deck, those bench spots are precious, as I'd rather have a Cherrim or Shaymin sitting there instead of a 1-time use card like Azelf or Uxie.
Level Max might be nice to help get Shaymin Lv.X out faster, and without having to waste a turn to retreat. Unfortunately, the coin flip is what led me to leave it out in favor of more reliable cards.
Switch/Warp Point. Despite the Dawn Stadiums, my Pokemon are still susceptible to special conditions, partly because of the low energy card count. Not only that, but they would help with the leveling-up process for Shaymin, since Cradily's retreat cost of 3 is painful.
Technical Machine TS-2 (Devoluter)/ Omastar. Cradily is good at spreading damage to particularly bothersome targets, which makes it a possible candidate for doing some devolving too. A 1-0-1 Omastar line (which at one time this deck had) seems like a good fit (Primal Swirl/Drain Down can be a deadly combo, and it already has the Fossil Excavators), but in reality it is very situational, and most of the time I don't have empty bench space for it anyway.
Poke Blower+ would be useful to get around Toxicroak/Unown G, as well as having a chance to push a Pokemon's HP closer to KO range from Drain Down.
Games with this deck have gone one of two ways. Either I lose in the first 3 or 4 turns to a much quicker deck, without getting set up at all, OR I get set up and win. There really isn't much middle ground; a 160-HP Cradily with Cherrim support is, I've found, almost indestructible. The key, then, is to maximize how often this happens in the game, and that's what I'm asking help for.
By the way... I don't like to talk about Dialga G. Shutting off bodies and killing the use of trainers like PlusPower and even Root Fossil (with Deafen) really makes it hard to beat, almost an auto-loss no matter how this deck might be tweaked. If you have an idea to make that match-up a little more manageable without hurting the overall consistency of the deck I'd love to hear it, but otherwise I don't want to hear how badly this would be crushed by Dialga G. Believe me, I already know all about it.
21 Pokemon (with links to key cards)
4 Cherubi
4 Cherrim
2 Cradily
2 Lileep
2 Shaymin (1 Damage Aid, 1 Aromatherapy)
2 Shaymin Lv.X (land form)
1 Baltoy
1 Claydol
1 Unown Q
2 Unown G
29 Trainer/Supporter/Stadiums
4 PlusPower
4 Buck's Training
2 Root Fossil
3 Rare Candy
4 Bebe's Search
3 Roseanne's Research
1 Luxury Ball
3 Fossil Excavator
1 Time Space Distortion
2 Night Maintenance
2 Dawn Stadium
10 Grass Energy
Cradily is the main attacker, with its 1-energy Drain Down being the main attack. It does 30 damage to basically anything you want to pull active, and if it KO's that Pokemon, Cradily is completely healed of all damage.
Cherrim is the main support, multiple copies increasing the damage Cradily does so the KO (and subsequent removal of damage) becomes more likely. Buck's Training and PlusPower are also maxed out here to help that along.
When Shaymin Lv.X is out, Cradily is a tank. A 160-HP Pokemon that can completely heal itself? Yes please! Plus, it gives the originally fragile Cherrims a much safer 120 HP. And as a small bonus, it has the ability, with the attack Seed Flare, to OHKO tougher Pokemon that Cradily or Cherrim would have a hard time with.
Unown Q is in here to help with the levelling up process, giving Shaymin free retreat. There have been quite a few times I've had a Cradily get knocked out, so I promote the Shaymin, level it up, attach Unown Q, evolve another Cradily (usually with Rare Candy) and retreat. There are other reasons you might want to have a Pokemon with no retreat cost, too, especially in a deck that doesn't run much energy at all.
Unown G and Claydol are staples in most decks, so I don't think I need to explain their presence here. I choose Claydol over Uxie because my bench spaces are precious (reserved for Cherrim and Shaymin).
Now for the cards I would have LIKED to include...
Azelf (with Time Walk) would have been useful if a key Pokemon (say, Baltoy or Claydol) is prized. This would, however, come at the price of a bench spot. In this deck, those bench spots are precious, as I'd rather have a Cherrim or Shaymin sitting there instead of a 1-time use card like Azelf or Uxie.
Level Max might be nice to help get Shaymin Lv.X out faster, and without having to waste a turn to retreat. Unfortunately, the coin flip is what led me to leave it out in favor of more reliable cards.
Switch/Warp Point. Despite the Dawn Stadiums, my Pokemon are still susceptible to special conditions, partly because of the low energy card count. Not only that, but they would help with the leveling-up process for Shaymin, since Cradily's retreat cost of 3 is painful.
Technical Machine TS-2 (Devoluter)/ Omastar. Cradily is good at spreading damage to particularly bothersome targets, which makes it a possible candidate for doing some devolving too. A 1-0-1 Omastar line (which at one time this deck had) seems like a good fit (Primal Swirl/Drain Down can be a deadly combo, and it already has the Fossil Excavators), but in reality it is very situational, and most of the time I don't have empty bench space for it anyway.
Poke Blower+ would be useful to get around Toxicroak/Unown G, as well as having a chance to push a Pokemon's HP closer to KO range from Drain Down.
Games with this deck have gone one of two ways. Either I lose in the first 3 or 4 turns to a much quicker deck, without getting set up at all, OR I get set up and win. There really isn't much middle ground; a 160-HP Cradily with Cherrim support is, I've found, almost indestructible. The key, then, is to maximize how often this happens in the game, and that's what I'm asking help for.
By the way... I don't like to talk about Dialga G. Shutting off bodies and killing the use of trainers like PlusPower and even Root Fossil (with Deafen) really makes it hard to beat, almost an auto-loss no matter how this deck might be tweaked. If you have an idea to make that match-up a little more manageable without hurting the overall consistency of the deck I'd love to hear it, but otherwise I don't want to hear how badly this would be crushed by Dialga G. Believe me, I already know all about it.
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