elekid_957
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Kyogre/Groudon Legend (KGL)
Written By: Elekid_957
Format: MD-CL
Deck: Kyogre/Groudon Legend/Feraligatr Prime
Date: 3/30/11
So I know a lot of you guys are probably thinking that I am crazy for writing an article on such a "bad" card. I mean with x2 weakness to the most popular Pokemon (Luxray GL) in the TCG how could you be crazy enough to play this deck? Well it turns out I was the one crazy enough, and it also turned out that it wasn't such a bad choice. Without further adieu, the deck list: (This is my list for the deck, I will explain why I have chosen certain techs over others later on in the article)
Pokemon - 20
3 Sableye
1 Smeargle
2 Unown Q
1 Azelf
1 Uxie LvX
2 Uxie
2 Feraligatr
2 Totodile
2 Kyogre/Groudon Legend Top Half
2 Kyogre/Groudon Legend Bottom Half
1 Exploud
1 Whismur
Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums - 30
4 Twins
2 Pokemon Collector
2 Bebe's Search
2 Seeker
1 Cyrus's Conspiracy
1 Fisherman
1 Looker's Investigation
3 Junk Arm
3 Super Scoop Up
2 Pokemon Communication
2 Rare Candy
1 Pokemon Rescue
1 Bubble Coat
1 Luxury Ball
1 VS Seeker
1 Warp Point
2 Indigo Plateau
Energy - 10
2 Double Colorless Energy
1 Warp Energy
7 Water energy
So before I go into card analysis or anything like that I'm sure people are wondering 2 things. First off, what's with the name? Well KGL also is an acronym for 'Kay Good Luck, and the first time I played this deck that was the very first thing people said to me. Along with a lot of laughter and saying that I'm dumb (<3). Another thing is that people always want proof that the deck is good and that I'm not just fooling you. Well I got Top 8 at Oregon States in a field of over 150 Masters and then lost to Machamp. Also during Swiss I beat the person who would go on to win the tournament. I'd say that's proof of how good KGL is. So, now onto the analysis of the cards in the deck:
Overview of Important Cards:
Pokemon:
3 Sableye Sf - Your preferred starter for the deck. This little guy is how you can actually set up a Legend and everything to go along with it. Just looking at the card it has decent stats for a basic. 60 HP, no Weakness, and a -20 resistance to Colorless saves you from Ambipom G Donks and being OHKO'd by Garchomp C on Turn 1. It's Poke-Body Overeager forces you to go first, but that's a good thing as it allows you to start setting up faster. You don't have to worry about Overconfident with this deck, as you run no Dark Energy. The main reason to use this Card is Impersonate. An awesome attack that can let you use Supporters out of your deck to start setting up. It also has no Energy Cost, so you can start attaching to other Pokemon without worry.
What I generally do with Sableye is Impersonate a Pokemon Collector to get Totodile + whatever other Pokemon are necessary to set up. Usually a second Sableye, Unown Q, Smeargle, or Uxie are all good Cards to get. Sableye also allows you to play 2 Twins in one turn after one of your Pokemon has been knocked out. This is how you can get all the cards you need to get a KGL and Feraligatr Prime in play. After using all 4 Twins 2 Sableye's are knocked out, but it doesn't really matter at that point as you are completely set up. Try not to sacrifice more than 3 prizes setting up however, if this happens then the Opponent can take easy prizes off your bench to win.
1 Smeargle UD - This is what I would run instead of playing a 4th Sableye. It let's you look at your opponents hand, play even more supporters, and with an Unown Q it is a great thing to send up after using the Warp-Seeker strategy (To be explained later). Use Smeargle to check if your opponent has the Expert Belt they need to win, or to see if a Looker's is needed. I wouldn't ever suggest actually attacking with it unless you were trying to Donk a Garchomp C or if it was a last ditch effort.
1 Azelf LA - Azelf is an amazing card in this deck. Because Legend Pokemon are pretty hard to search out, you can use Azelf to possibly get one from your Prizes. It's amazing in the Vilegar Match-Up as you get to see where your Trainers are so you don't draw them, and it's just an all around good card. Because you don't run Rainbow or Psychic energy you can't actually attack with it, so there's not really anything else to tell about it.
2 Unown Q - At first glance this looks like a terrible card, and for many starting with it can lead to a very quick game. In this deck however it is an extremely useful card. Because KGL goes back to your hand every time you use Super Scoop Up or Seeker you have to have a Free-Retreat Pokemon so that you can lay it all back down and send KGL back up to attack. Unown Q allows Uxie LvX and Smeargle to both have free retreat. So along with having KGL completely healed, you also get to use Trade Off or Portrait. I would suggest not to waste these as they come in handy late game.
2 Uxie - Uxie is definitely one of the best cards in the game. With an amazing Power, Attack, and LvX, Uxie helps this deck in tons of ways. First up is the obvious way, in its Power Set Up. It can save you from a bad start or draw into that card you need to win the game. The second reason would be that it can evolve into Uxie LvX, which nets you extra cards each turn and is a great card as well. Third reason to use it would be the attack, it may not look like much at first but in certain Match-Ups it's amazing. Probably most important would be against Machamp, it hits for 50 damage after weakness, and with Feraligatr Primes attack you are hitting for 160 damage, which is more than enough for a knock out.
1 Uxie LvX - Uxie LvX is another amazing card in this deck. The main reason would be its Power Trade Off. With this you can be drawing 2 cards per turn, and it helps to recover after a Judge or Hand Disruption as well. You definitely want to get this out as fast as possible. SP's will usually Dragon Rush it, but that's not really a big deal as you just get an extra turn of discard then. In other Match-Ups however that extra card per turn really goes far. And again, against Machamp Zen Blade is hitting for 90 damage, so if you can get 40 onto a Machamp then you're good to go.
2 Totodile HGSS - There really isn't much to say about this card. It has no decent attacks or anything like that. It's only here to evolve in Feraligatr. 60 HP is nice and makes it relatively hard to Donk it.
2 Feraligatr HGSS - The card that makes the entire deck work. Without it there would be no point to make this deck at all. Let's look at the stats first as they are pretty important. First up is the HP. 140 HP isn't anything to mess around with, this guy can take a few hits and can't be sniped off all that easily. Secondly is the weakness. One of the things that makes this deck work is that its weak to Grass instead of Lightning. This means that Luxray LvX can't just Bright Look and Trash Bolt for a KO. Basically this guy is going to be staying around for a while. But the most important part about Feraligatr is the Power. Rain Dance let's you attach as many Water Energy to your Water Pokemon as many times as you want during your turn. This means that you can get a KGL in play in one turn, and with Super Scoop Up and Seeker you can return it to your hand and Re-Bench it each turn. Its attack isn't all that bad either. It combo's pretty well with KGL's attack. If the opponent has 30 damage on them, Hydro Crunch is going to bring them to 120, which knocks out a ton of stuff that could be annoying. This guy Helps out during the Machamp Match-Up, and can also wreak havoc against MagneRock.
2-2 Kyogre/Groudon Legend UD - Your main attacker and an overall amazing card. First up lets just look at the HP on this thing. 150 Base, and with Indigo Plateau mixed in you have 180 HP. Meaning it's not going to be OHKO'd by much. It's retreat cost is pretty terrible, but you really shouldn't ever need to retreat it. Mega Tidal Wave is the only attack you should be using. If you really want to you can play some Fighting Energy and try for Massive Eruption, but that just goes against the main Strategy of the deck so it's not really worth mentioning. So Mega Tidal Wave is a completely broken attack in my opinion. for 4 Energy (3 with DCE) you get to discard the top 5 cards of your Opponent's deck. Then for each Energy discarded you do 30 Damage to each of their benched Pokemon. Wow. Even if it didn't do the 30 Damage I'm pretty sure it would still be an great attack. Discarding 5 cards off of your Opponent's deck will deck them out in a matter of 5 or 6 turns. Sometimes even less. Also you're discarding some very crucial cards most of the time. It's just fun to flip over the top 5 cards and see Poke-Turns, Cyrus, DCE's, Supporters, and a ton of other stuff. It just gives you sort of a power trip to discard the cards off their deck, I always make sure i flip the cards over because it's more fun like that It also means that this deck never really gets stale and boring, as with each game you discard different cards making it a different game. The one downside to this card is its Weakness. But Bubble Coat or Exploud and just it's generally huge amount of HP solve that problem pretty well.
1-0-1 Exploud SV - Out of all the Techs that I have tried in the deck so far, this one is by far my favorite. It has massive HP just like Feraligatr so it won't be getting sniped off the bench easily. Its attacks aren't all that bad either, and can help against Machamp as well. Where this guy really shines however is the Poke-Body. Its Body makes it so that none of your Pokemon have any Weaknesses. This solves so many problems that the deck had before. I was always a little bit paranoid about running into that random Jumpluff or Tangrowth deck, and against that 1 Bubble Coat really just won't cut it. However now that I've added in Exploud all those Grass decks are incredibly easy to beat. This also solves the big problem I had which was Luxray with an Expert Belt and 3 Energies doing Trash Bolt for exactly 180 damage. Bubble Coat usually worked for that, but in some cases it was hard to get it out or they would just do psychic restore or something like that to get rid of it. So Exploud makes it so that Luxchomp literally can't knock out KGL in one hit. Of course they can always drag it up or snipe it or something, but while they're doing that say Bye-Bye to 10 cards off the top of their deck
.Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:
4 Twins - This card is just as important to the deck as Feraligatr or even KGL. Twins let's you search out anything you want after a Pokemon has been Knocked out. Over the course of 3 turns you can get around 8-10 cards out of your deck. After that you should be set to recycle KGL multiple times. One piece of advice I can give is that when you use Twins try to get out a VS Seeker and get it into the discard pile pretty fast. Late game you can Junk Arm for it and just reuse Twins or Seeker or anything like that.
2 Pokemon Collector - Used to get all the basics you need to set up. Usually I use the first Collector for Sableye, Unown Q, andTotodile. Then the second one for Uxie, Smeargle, and either Sableye or another Unown Q (Of course different for different Match-Ups). You may ask, why only 2? Well the reason is you really don't NEED basics besides getting Totodile. Everything else is just set up or Junk arm/Communication fodder.
2 Bebe's Search - The most common thing I use this for is getting KGL out against Vilegar or other Trainer Locking decks. Of course it can also be used to get Feraligatr in hand if your opponent is taking a while to knock out a Pokemon and you can't use Twins yet. Can also lower amount of cards in hand for a Uxie drop.
2 Seeker - Another one of those super important cards. With Seeker, Warp Point, and Warp Energy you can pick KGL up without a flip and keep attacking. With VS Seeker and Junk Arm this can be done multiple times. Another fun thing you can do with it is bench people. After a few Mega Tidal Waves you should have killed off a lot of your Opponent's bench. if they just have 1 Pokemon left and it has 30-60 damage on it then you can play Warp Point then Seeker and force them to have just one Pokemon left in play. then attach 4 waters to Feraligatr (usually gotten off of the KGL that's now in your hand) and Hydro Crunch for the Knockout and game. I swear this happens at least 4-5 times a tournament and accounts for half my wins.
1 Cyrus's Conspiracy - What Cyrus in a non-SP deck? Yep. Cyrus is actually pretty important, you use it to get a Twins in your hand a turn before your Opponent Knocks anything out. Then next turn you use the Twins in your hand and one with Sableye and you're set. It can also be used to get Lookers or something like that if you need it.
1 Fisherman - Another important card. If a KGL dies or you just need some extra Energies then use this and you get 4. Which is exactly the amount needed to attack with Hydro Crunch or Mega Tidal Wave. Is especially Helpful against MagneRock as they will be Knocking out KGL pretty fast and you have to recover those Energies somehow.
1 Looker's Investigation - Use it when you're sure your Opponent has something that could hurt you in their hand. Helps to make sure they can't Looker's your hand or play an Expert Belt or something like that.
3 Junk Arm - Amazing card. Let's you reuse VS Seeker to play multiple Seekers, Rare Candy to get out Exploud, Warp Point and pretty much everything. Also ditches cards in your hand for a Uxie drop.
3 Super Scoop Up - Unfortunately this card is amazing in here as well. I say unfortunately because it's a flippy card and I try to stay away from those. But for a trainer it lets you do exactly what Warp-Seeker does, But its a trainer. Meaning you can also Twins or something like that. I would say to use these first in the game, because if you get Judged or something like that late game you can always Junk Arm for one. Also very important note here! Don't waste you Super Scoop Up's or Seeker's or Junk Arms or anything like that early game unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary (Like you would for sure lose if you didn't do it). This just makes it harder to keep cycling KGL late game. Whenever I see someone trying out this deck they always use Super Scoop Up to pick up Uxies and draw like an extra card or two. You really don't need to do this, just let Sableye do the setting up for you.
2 Pokemon Communication - Not really much to say here. Its basically Bebe's but in trainer form. Helps get out KGL quicker and exchange Pokemon you don't need late game for better stuff.
2 Rare Candy - Get's Feraligatr Prime down and Exploud. Because the deck doesn't play Croconaw (Or at least shouldn't play Croconaw) it's pretty crucial that you have these. Another side note is to not lay down Totodile unless you can Rare Candy it on that turn. Because Totodile is just screaming to be sniped off or Bright Looked.
1 Pokemon Rescue - This card is a new edition, but a much needed one. Because you're using Junk Arm you sometimes have to discard a KGL piece or a Feraligatr to stay in the game. This allows you to get it right back again, and can let you set up 3 KGL's in one game if necessary.
1 Luxury Ball - Free search for almost any Pokemon in the deck. Again not much to say about this card. Helps with speed.
1 VS Seeker - Such an important card. This is your 5th Twins, Your 3rd Seeker, or your anything really. It helps so much with setting up and staying in the game its not even funny. Also with Junk Arm you can do about 4-5 Seekers per game. Which is usually enough to deck someone out. Another tip I have here is to get VS Seeker in the discard as fast as possible. With the first Sableye-Twins go for it. Getting it in the discard helps late game with Hand Disruption, because every Junk Arm in your deck can now get back a supporter as well.
1 Bubble Coat This card used to be super important but with Exploud it's more of a minor Tech now. Used to get rid of weakness to Luxray GL in a pinch. Like in the case where they have sniped off Exploud and you can't get it on the bench again. Is also extremely easy to get out with Twins (Easier than Exploud as it's just a single card) so it's just nice to have as a backup.
1 Warp Point Helps with the whole Warp-Seeker combo. Warp Energy is of course better and easier to keep doing, But with this you still get to use DCE and 2 Waters. Which is a lot easier than getting 4 Waters and Warp energy. Also you can force up a Pokemon they don't want to when their bench is low. Games have been won by Warp-Seeker-Hydro Crunch.
2 Indigo Plateau - Another one of those cards that makes the deck work. Now Luxchomp can't really ever knock out KGL unless they can use 4 Flash Bites along with Trash Bolt. This has never happened before however. A nice counter Stadium as well. Get rid of Broken Time-Space and whatnot.
Energy:
7 Water Yeah.
2 Double Colorless
Makes KGL's cost 3 instead of 4. Also helps to get Zen Blade out easier.
1 Warp Energy One of the cards in the Warp-Seeker combo. Don't waste it to retreat or anything unless the Pokemon you use it on is going back to your hand.
Strategy:
The main strategy of this deck if it wasn't obvious is to deck the opponent out. The first time I played this people thought I was crazy. Deck out decks hadn't ever really worked at all. However with a 180 HP tank that gets healed every turn staring you down in the face it's not as crazy as it seems. After drawing cards and setting out prizes there is only 47 cards left in the deck. And I usually send up KGL to start attacking around turn 4 or 5. By this time there is anywhere from 25-35 cards on average. And people eat up cards in their deck fast. Cyrus or Collector, two of the most popular Supporters, take away 3 cards from the deck alone. And people always seem to scramble to get cards out of their deck that they don't want discarded, leaving them with even less cards. You really only have to attack 5 or 6 times per game. And that's not so hard to do.
A secondary strategy is to bench them. If you're lucky enough to hit 3 energies at once (I'd say it happens once every 4 or 5 games), you usually knock out 3-4 Pokemon right there. As well as leaving them with a heavily damaged bench Pokemon or two. Warp-Seeker-Hydro Crunch and game. People never want to bench more Pokemon for fear of them getting killed by Mega Tidal Wave. So it's pretty easy to win like this.
Techs:
There are many different Techs you can play in here, and depending on your play style I say to choose what you like best. First up:
Spiritomb TM - At first I actually really thought this would help. As people always tried to use Looker's on themselves and then draw 1 to stop the deck out. But in testing it just never worked. It's easy gengar bait, and easily Sprayable. And the times when I used it to mess with an Opponents hand they always got the card they wanted anyways because it's basically giving them 7 cards. It's an alright tech but there are certainly better ones.
Mesprit LA - I really wanted to use this but i just never found the space. It's useful mainly to stop opposing Mesprit drops, which stop you from using Rain Dance which in turn stops KGL (at least until they run out of Mesprit's). It also really helps against MagneRock. If you see they don't have many energy in play, you could possibly live a turn/make them discard all the energy off of the attacking Magnezone. It's an all around good Tech and if you find the space go ahead and play it.
Crobat G - There are tons of times when you just need that last 10 damage to win a game, which is where crobat G comes in. He also makes a good starter with the free retreat cost. The reason I wouldn't use Crobat is because it doesn't really help any specific Match-Ups, and it doesn't help with the whole deck out theme either. If you're stuck between something and Crobat, go with that something.
Machamp SF - Whaaa? Machamp in a deck that doesn't look like it needs Machamp at all? Yep. This would be a more aggressive counter to Luxray with Expert belt than Exploud is. Of course if you play it run 1 Fighting Energy instead of a Water. It's a totally unsuspected tech and can win an entire game by itself. I like Exploud better as it helps in more Match-Ups than just one, but if you're more into attacking then try out Machamp.
Skunatank SF - If you want to just play this deck for the lulz factor then try out Skuntank. It prevents an opposing Pokemon from attacking which means another 5 cards discarded. Of course it's incredibly easy to get around (Warp Point, attacking with a different Pokemon, ect) which is why it's a lulz card. Run 1 BTS (Broken Time-Space) if you decide to play this to reuse it with SSU/Seeker.
Croconaw HGSS - I would not run this as it is just going to get sniped or something in 99% of games you play. However this improves the Machamp Match-Up a ton. Using their BTS you can just evolve a whole line of Feraligatr each turn using Seeker, Pokemon Rescue, SSU, and more. If your one of those people would just outright says that 2-0-2 line is plain stupid (IE most of my friends, my League Leader, Opponents, Ect.) then play this.
Match-Ups:
(Because this deck wins different ways for different Match-Ups, I'll just say how you generally win each one before the In-Depth part)
KGL vs Luxchomp w/out Expert Belt - Very Favorable
Strategy: Deckout
Now you may be thinking Wait but you've got Weakness/ect! But it really doesn't matter as the only important thing is that they can't knock out KGL in one hit. They can go ahead and do Flash Impact for 120 or Trash Bolt for 140 it's all the same to me. Warp-Seeker, Re-Bench, attach, top 5. That's usually how the Match-Up goes. Luxchomp also goes through the deck very fast and plays a decent amount of energy, so expect to get at least a few kills off of Mega Tidal Wave. The one thing to look out for is Looker's on your hand after using a couple Twins. If you ever see them getting a Looker's with Cyrus or something like that immediately Impersonate a Looker's and get that out of their hand. Or if you can't do that just bench all your stuff and take the Bright Look like a man. Then next turn Warp-Seeker and continue setting up. One tip for this is to not bench Totodile or KGL until you can explode on them in one turn and have stuff in hand to stay alive. Only things you have to bench are Prize fodder. Sableyes, Uxies, Unown Q, or Smeargle all fit the job.
KGL vs Luxchomp w/ Expert Belt - Favorable if running Exploud. Even to Slightly Favorable if not running Exploud
Strategy: Deckout
With Belt they can One-Shot you now. But you do still have Bubble Coat, and you are discarding 5 per turn and can Looker's them. Basically just try to prevent them from even getting Belt in the first place. If they are lucky enough to start with it or something like that it becomes harder. Try to abuse Bubble Coat and just stay alive as long as you can. Warp Point and getting damage on Belted Luxray could also mean a KO from Hydro Crunch later on. Of course if you're running Exploud it really doesn't matter, they can't knock you out in one hit and it becomes just like a regular Luxchomp game.
KGL vs Gyarados - Highly Favorable
Strategy: Deckout
Gyarados cannot One-Shot you. Gyarados also cannot snipe the bench or Bright Look meaning you are free to bench Pokemon and Set Up without fear. If they go for Regice to take Prizes off of benched Pokemon, let them for a while. Once they are at about 2-3 Prizes just bench the other KGL. Now they have wasted all those attacks as they won't be taking any more prizes with Regice. Gyarados also goes through cards in its deck pretty fast because of Sableye, Regice, and Uxie. Very relaxing game and I am X-1 against it (The one being where i went 0-6 on SSU). Just kick back your shoes and chill. Only thing to look out for is Belted Mew Prime with 4 Karp in discard and a Crobat drop while also kicking out your Indigo. But that's very unlikely.
KGL vs Vilegar - Slightly Unfavorable to Highly Favorable Depending on Prizes.
Strategy: Deckout/Benching
The reason it could be Unfavorable is if Azelf and Lookers are both Prized. Because of this you can't tell what cards you will draw off of prizes which means they could knock you out easier. Don't even try for Feraligatr this game. Just Bebe's for KGL and manually attach to it (3 turns with DCE) while setting up with Sableye. Once they knock something out just use Twins to grab the other KGL piece and bench it. Then Sableye for Twins to get Lookers and next turn Looker's yourself for 1. Gengar now can hit for a measly 30 damage while you're ripping through their deck. Usually you take 5 prizes in this process, and knock out Vileplume. With Azelf just abuse your prizes so you don't draw many trainers. If Looker's is prized go for Smeargle. They will most likely have something to get cards from your hand (Bebe's, Judge, Looker's, Ect.) to lessen the sting of Poltergeist. If Smeargle, Azelf, and Lookers are prized then it's not gonna be a fun game.
KGL vs MagneRock - Slightly Unfavorable to Slightly Favorable Depending on Discards
Strategy: Deckout/Benching
This was the deck I was pretty sure I Autolost to until I actually played against it. Then I realized that Magnezone's downfall is its speed and high Energy count. Standard builds run 18 Energy. Which Means you're going to hit a lot with Mega Tidal Wave. Along with this is the speed Magnezone has. reading through many tournament reports I have seen that the Magnezone player almost always get's close to decking or decks themselves out. Now imagine that but add in Mega Tidal Wave discarding 10-15 cards (you get 1 attack for the first one, 1 attack for the second one and possibly one attack with a third KGL using Pokemon Rescue and Junk Arm). You might get even more depending on what discards you get. If you hit 3 Energy at once then Regirock, Spiritomb's, Skuntank G, Magneton's, and more all get knocked out. Which means it will be hard for them to return the knock out considering you have 150 HP and no weakness (This is all assuming you play Exploud or have Bubble Coat down). They may end up having to discard all the Energy off of their active Magnezone meaning the Next KGL can get 2 attacks. I only call this Match-Up Unfavorable because they run 2-3 Judge. And early game Judge is very annoying. If you keep cool and get some lucky discards however you should be able to deck them out fairly easily. To win this game you basically have to hit 4 Energy total. This will stop Magnezone SF, Regirock, and any other ways they have of getting extra Energy.
KGL vs Machamp - Unfavorable
Strategy: Attack with Feraligatr
Oh how I wish Unown G was still in the format. Oh well. This Match-Up is not a fun one, but it's still a winnable one. You may think it's impossible as KGL gets knocked out by Machamp SF in one hit. However standard Machamp lists only run 2 Machamp SF and then the other 2 are Machamp Prime. If you can get out Uxie LvX and Feraligatr Prime out fast enough you can win. Machamp can't take down Feraligatr in one hit, and Feraligatr can knock out Machamp after a Psychic Restore. Once both of the Machamp SF's are gone immediately get KGL in play. The faster you do it the less chance they have of recovering the SF Machamp in time to win it. I would call this Slightly Unfavorable instead of Unfavorable, but Machamp has the tendency to get Donks, and with Sableye that chance is even higher.
I will post more Match-Ups the more I play this deck. But thanks for reading and have fun playing!
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