Grass Pokemon Decks

[TrainerEnjay]

Looking through my binder, there is no question that grass type pokemon cards help eachother more than any other type. There are healers (Serperior, Bellossom, Cherrim), trainer lock (Vileplume), grass pokemon searchers (Tropius, Sunflora), cards that move grass energy (Shaymin, Meganium Prime), status inflicting cards (Roserade, Venomoth), cards to take away weakness (Metapod), attack cards which increase in some way or form (Tangrowth, Roserade, Leafeon), cards that will prevent retreat (Victreebel), and more.

With such a versatile array of cards, why hasn't there been a viable grass deck? I know the obvious reason would be the fire weakness and another good reason might be their damage output is too low. Still, I think there is a combination that could be made with these cards that could do some serious damage.

Can anyone come up with any ideas for a grass deck? (yanmega doesn't count, Leafeon/Roserade is decent and maybe an exception with the right build)

 

[thunderjolt]

I made a yanmega/roserade/vileplume deck once, and it was semi-successful. I could inflict confusion while sniping the bench.

 

[dialga master]

Yanmega/Mew/Vileplume

 

[Topspin]

Leafeon/Roserade is a really fun deck to play but I've found it's too easy for Reshiram and Zekrom decks to retreat out, since they have reliable energy acceleration methods.

One biggie you left out is Jumpluff - I've been testing it out (with Vileplume) with some degree of success on TCGO and, though unconventional, running Black Belts seems to work quite well, since it usually takes me longer to set up than my opponent. Recovery is also simple when you run FSL and Sunfloras. Unfortunately, in addition to fire decks, another huge threat to this deck will be Kyurem... I definitely intend to add Vespiquen in once that time comes along, but I'd have to get Vespiquen out before they get Kyurem powered up or I lose.

 

[Mewtral]

Don't forget about metapod, who let's grass types loose weakness. Or Celebi who accelerates grass energy.

When grass legendaries/ex hit, there surely will be a boost in hype.

 

[Rogue Archetype]

Shaymin's power moves energy and it's attack heals your Pokemon.

Meganium heals as it attacks and so does Torterra.

Ledian HS is KOs babies and let's you draw out of a rut.

So, there's a lock tank in there SOMEWHERE (but, yeah... you'll need Metapod in EVERY scenario)

 

[Bleak]

The reason it hasn't done well, imo, is because Vileplume is a double-edged sword. Most of the grass Pokemon that are worthy of building a deck around (being a main attacker) are stage 2's. Vileplume makes it VERY difficult for a player to get out multiple stage 2's.
However, without Vileplume, Metapod is a free prize. So is Shaymin, and so is just about anything else that serves the support role, due to Catcher.

Keep in mind that bench space is a huge issue as well - grass has a ton of support, but you only have 5 spaces to allocate to that support.

How much support grass has is also it's downfall, in my opinion. That and Reshiram, of course.

 

[Mazu]

You can't say Yanmega doesn't count. It's like saying Reshiram doesn't count and then go on to saying there are no playable fire decks. Yanmega is seen in the deck of almost every single player who can afford it, Vileplume found its way into Mewbox and I believe Serperior was included in Ross.dec. Shaymin is in every single ZPST deck out there, and is generally a cool card to include for surprise moves that can change entire games.

No, there may not be a deck consisting of mainly grass Pokémon with a grass Pokémon as a main attacker, but isn't that a little too much to ask? If there had been any good counters to Reshiram then the only deck consisting of a single type (no wait - say hello to Cleffa) wouldn't consist of a single type. My point is that you can't expect there to be any definite grass decks or fire decks or water decks or whichever type you fell in love with playing the video games as a kid (I'm still dreaming of a Houndoom pure dark deck). The good, top tier decks will always be versatile in both typing and ways to play them, and I believe it's called building a balanced deck with generally decent match-ups.

 

[TrainerEnjay]

good points, and I know it seemed like it but I didnt exactly mean a good grass deck consisting only of grass. I was just pointing out that there are grass type cards that help only grass type pokemon and I felt like there should be a deck out there to abuse these cards. A grass deck to me is a deck that has a main attacker that is grass type and uses grass energy throughout the deck. I would consider Reshiram a fire deck, and gothitelle a psychic deck, etc. However, you are right in saying that Yanmega should count. I guess I didn't include him because he doesn't usually run energy for attacks.

 

[Mazu]

Just wait, I'm thinking we'll see some decks including grass energy as soon as some decent main attackers and skyarrow bridge (Celebi Prime says hello) is released. Right now there's just not many good (/metagame) main attackers using grass energy, as is the same with dark, steel and water.