Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Luxray (LA)

A single Masquerain tech (laugh, scoff, whatever) OHKOs Groudon for two energy of any type, no questions asked, and once you KO their active, powered/semi-powered Groudon, they're going to need to use Drought on their next one (effectively sacing it in the process) to power up a BENCHED one to have any chance at all. Something like Warp Point in that instance would probably mean game since there is no way to power up an energyless Groudon in a single turn without getting really lucky on Energy Pickup, and aside from that, Masquerain just laughs and uses Centrifugal Force for 120 damage.

If Groudonk really only runs 4 Groudon and absolutely banks on being able to maintain control of the game after getting an early KO, a card like Masquerain that is easily teched into Luxray is going to hurt it bad.

Incidentally, against Rhyperior lv. X, Masquerain does 80 for 2, which barring a SSU would then allow a Buck's/PlusPower + Shock Bolt to finish it off. Not as easy or effective as against Groudon, but it would be a possibility.

Basically I think it is a viable tech for Luxray that could at least help in those match-ups.
 
Wow, I never even noticed that Masquerain. If groudonk or rhyperior gets popular i would tech a 1-1 line of that in an instant. Good call.
 
Gyarados is also a good Groudon counter. They whack it for 100 ... and it takes 80 due to resistance ... then for 1 colorless energy Gyarados smacks Groudon back for 110. Gyarados also hits Rhyperior for weakness too if you ever run into that.
 
IDK. Grodon does have a *few* options ... the real problem it has is that it can't do 100 every single turn so it has huge problems if it starts getting outspeeded. That's exactly why things like Gyarados and Masquerain are so problematic for it ... they start OHKOing back faster than Groudon can keep up. However if Groudonk is able to give up a few prizes and can get to TSD to keep things in play then it can simply power up benched Groudons and then OHKO your counter or whatever heavy hitter you've gotten into play. Sure it relies on getting those TSDs or NM+Quick Ball so there is a strong element of luck there, but the deck does have at least 1 "out" in a situation like that.

I have ideas for decks with Groudon, but the pure Groudonk is a bit risky for my taste. I do see it winning at least 1 BR though.
 
Please, Groudon is a joke. 4 Pokemon in the deck?

Someone build a consistent Groudon deck, please.
Sure, maybe they can KO any basic you have by turn 2, but if you have a benched basic as well, that is game, as you could set up that one. If you get a Call Energy, then you will win.
 
Please, Groudon is a joke. 4 Pokemon in the deck?

Someone build a consistent Groudon deck, please.
Sure, maybe they can KO any basic you have by turn 2, but if you have a benched basic as well, that is game, as you could set up that one. If you get a Call Energy, then you will win.

Why on earth would I run just Groudon? :/

You really don't know what you are talking about when it comes to this deck. I suggest you go take a good look at LA cards before you post about Groudon again. lol
 
Why on earth would I run just Groudon? :/

You really don't know what you are talking about when it comes to this deck. I suggest you go take a good look at LA cards before you post about Groudon again. lol

There are a number of reasons people have been talking about running exclusively Groudon, however flawed and risky that idea may be. For one thing, Groudon can do everything it needs to by itself with no support other than a handful of fighting energy. Other Pokemon in the deck would lessen the ability to start with Groudon and they'd also be taking a lot of bench damage over the course of a game. With only 4 basics, the odds of multiple mulligans per game are almost inevitable but eventually a Groudon has to be drawn into and so that is a 100% guarantee of opening with it as opposed to the lesser percentage you'd have if you ran other things like Claydol, a stage 1 or 2 support/tech line, Chatot, or whatever else. However, I think at least a 1-1 Claydol line would be in order regardless to replenish the hand after all the Droughting that will be going on, even if it does mean a possible Baltoy start.

Cards like Team Galactic's Wager and Quick Ball could be used by the Groudon player to nullify the opponent's mulligan draws and get out the rest of the Groudon in the deck, respectively. Quick Ball in a deck with only 4 Groudon would be great and would eliminate the need for Bebe's while allowing Roseanne's to be used more often just to grab fighting energy. Time Space Distortion would allow the Groudon player to force the opponent to deal with more than 4 Groudon in a game. Energy Pickup could be used to get even more multiple attacks off. And so on.

I'm not saying this kind of deck would work necessarily with any consistency, I'm just trying to explain why I think some people are considering that "only 4 Groudon?!" build. Anything with Sceptile would pretty much roll over it though if it survived the donk/early KOs (Sceptile itself OHKOs Groudon). Bellosom also gets a OHKO every time. This alone would be reason enough for me not to even go near Groudon for a while.
 
There are a number of reasons people have been talking about running exclusively Groudon, however flawed and risky that idea may be. For one thing, Groudon can do everything it needs to by itself with no support other than a handful of fighting energy. Other Pokemon in the deck would lessen the ability to start with Groudon and they'd also be taking a lot of bench damage over the course of a game. With only 4 basics, the odds of multiple mulligans per game are almost inevitable but eventually a Groudon has to be drawn into and so that is a 100% guarantee of opening with it as opposed to the lesser percentage you'd have if you ran other things like Claydol, a stage 1 or 2 support/tech line, Chatot, or whatever else. However, I think at least a 1-1 Claydol line would be in order regardless to replenish the hand after all the Droughting that will be going on, even if it does mean a possible Baltoy start.

Cards like Team Galactic's Wager and Quick Ball could be used by the Groudon player to nullify the opponent's mulligan draws and get out the rest of the Groudon in the deck, respectively. Quick Ball in a deck with only 4 Groudon would be great and would eliminate the need for Bebe's while allowing Roseanne's to be used more often just to grab fighting energy. Time Space Distortion would allow the Groudon player to force the opponent to deal with more than 4 Groudon in a game. Energy Pickup could be used to get even more multiple attacks off. And so on.

I'm not saying this kind of deck would work necessarily with any consistency, I'm just trying to explain why I think some people are considering that "only 4 Groudon?!" build. Anything with Sceptile would pretty much roll over it though if it survived the donk/early KOs (Sceptile itself OHKOs Groudon). Bellosom also gets a OHKO every time. This alone would be reason enough for me not to even go near Groudon for a while.

So the whole groudon as a main attacker thing isn't a joke? Everyone pokemon is coming to a near end. :nonono:
 
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So the whole groudon as a main attacker thing isn't a joke? Everyone pokemon is coming to a near end. :nonono:

It may still turn out to be a joke. Sometimes people hold off on the punch line for a while to get a certain effect, you know? Then they hit you with it when you're least expecting and if you're on the computer when it happens you type "rofl" a lot of times in a row. If I were you I would just remain on standby.

I think one of the things that draw people to this card is the way the name "Groudon" already has 3 out of the 4 letters for the word "donk" included in it, meaning all anyone has to do to come off REAL clever is slap a "k" on the end of it just like pinning the tail on a donkey. Speaking of clever... you know you love how I just turned a simile into a PUN.

In all seriousness, I don't see how Groudon as an attacker is such a joke. Maybe that "4 Groudon only" build people have mentioned will be/would be if anyone actually plays it, but Groudon as an attacker in general? It has some big flaws including the terrible weakness, bad retreat, and an energy intensive nature, but the ability to do 100 on both turn 2 and 3 with a basic isn't so easily dismissible. I can see this working with something like Blissey, with the idea being to get Groudon out early for some quick KOs while also getting energy in the discard for Blissey, then letting it take over whenever it got KOed. Throw some SSU in the mix to get back a damaged Blissey with a handful of energy attached, bring in a healthy Groudon and immediately set up another 100 hit and hey, you might have something.

That's just one off-the-cuff idea.
 
A deck with 4 Groundoun and 56 Energy won't have much sucess IMO unless your opponent starts with only 1 basic pokemon, which is quiet difficult since you will have lots of mulligan because of the few basics you are running.

A groundoun with other pokemon may be less consistent because you have less probabbility of starting with a groundoun and at least 2 energy.
I don't see groundoun being such a successful card. It might win some minor things but it won't be BIG.

Now back on Luxray. I think that Luxray has quiet some potential. A T2 100 could be quiet nasty and it could OHKO Kingdra. Against AMU luxray could win easily because he can OHKO them with Plasma, while you build up energy on him and build another luxray on your bench.
 
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