Ambush doesn't need a setup man because its strategy to spread early with a stage 1, which is very easy to setup. It is NOT easy, however, to set up a stage one AND a stage two by turn 3 (to be effective), which is about when the first Lucario should die to a good speed deck
You keep mentioning that you have to setup a stage 2 and stage 1 by turn 3. That isn't the whole idea of the deck. You can follow up a Lucario with another Lucario or with a Machoke. It's not T3 Machamp or lose. And depending on the list, and the luck, you can get a T3 Machamp doing 70. I mean, it doesn't require much, does it? Machop, rare candy (or machoke), Machamp, and 1 fighting energy. 4 cards.
Most stage 2 decks focus on setting up for the late game, not trying to get in damage early, which its why its acceptable to run fewer tricks because the late game power in the end alone will win games. Mario will not win anything without tricks as a bland 70 damage won't cut it.
Again, you assume that Machamp is there for early damage, not for mid-late game damage. Have you played Mario before? And no, I don't mean taking the list off the Pokegym and playing it. Have you actually taking the time to take apart the deck and refine it and test different engines, etc? It really doesn't sound like it. It sounds like you are basing your comments off of what you've seen, or what you feel the deck is about without even playing it. That's not the best idea, especially if your going to preach to the community and try to explain to the community why a deck is bad.
Bobby wrote this part because he has through personal experience outplayed Mario players even if they get lucky. Other good players can say the same. It is easy to outplay because of its simplicity.
Well, it doesn't matter who wrote what part. When you put your name at the top of the article, you signed a hidden agreement that says that you agree with everything the article says. For you to come out and say, "well, someone else wrote this, and this might not be the exact view of mine," only makes your article look less solid and easy to pick apart.
Don't put your name on something you might not have any experience with either. It makes the article look stupid when you talk about an idea you have no knowledge of.
LBS and Rock Lock were setup decks. Mario is trying to be a speed deck, even though it runs a stage 2. When has a speed stage 2 deck ever worked in the past without a setup Pokemon. I didn't play before last year, but I know that decks like Queen needed Pidgeot to run effectively.
Is Mario a speed deck? Isn't that an opinion? Some people might see it as a speed deck with Lucario in it, but some might see it as a hybrid, because of the added stage 2.
Again, the whole comment about not playing before last year hurts the argument. Nothing against you or anything, but maybe if someone else, with more experience would have submitted the article and put you down as someone who helped, the article would have had a better base to it. Because having knowledge of the decks that used to be played helps a ton when looking at current ideas, and especially discussing the legitimacy of those ideas.
While some of that is true, you need to take a look at the decks in question. Empoleon/Lucario covers its weakness with Lucario covering for Empoleon's Lightning weakness. Against anythign else, just spreading damage should be enough to win most games. I personally don't like the deck and wouldn't play it at a tournament but I can see it working. There's really nothing you need to tech against right now. Infernape HAS teched in the past, as some people played the Mew* or the Roselia for mirror last year. Every Infernape also ran Celebi ex by the end of last year.
Lucario protects Empoleon's electric weakness, but what protects Lucario's weakness to psychic? You make a big statement about how Mario is bad because it can't protect it's weakness to psychic but then don't talk about how most other Lucario varients (all lucario varients this season) don't protect their weakness to psychic either.
You don't like the deck, but feel the idea is infinitely better than Mario?
You could call Celebi ex a tech, but it wasn't a tech that improved any matchups. It just brought back a card. Mario could have easily played Celebi ex for the same purpose, but Celebi ex isn't in the current format is it?
I rarely, if ever have a "lucky" streak. I know some very good players who can say the same thing. There is no way I'd risk running a deck that requires a lucky streak to top cut a tournament. When I play a deck, I want my expected win % to be AT LEAST 90% vs any random, non-archetype deck, and good to decent matchups vs the archetype field. Minimizing the luck factor is the key to being sucessful at tournaments for good, unlucky players, even though tournaments can still be lost to luck factors such as supporter screw.
I never said people would play it because of it's lucky streak, but that players might think for a second about playing it because of all the T1/T2 KO's it got last season. I played it for a single tournament just to see how good it was, and I feel many players have played it once just to really see how good the deck was.
This is more of a point for last year as people played Mario last year as well. And there are great Psychic cards in DP3 and DP4.
Okay, so your article is partially trying to tell people not to play the deck last season. I think that was accomplished well enough with the season change. There aren't that many great psychic cards in DP3. DP4 is filled with endless numbers of good cards, so every deck is going to be hurt by the release of DP4.
One point that was not presented in this thread so far is that decks become more/less playable as the format goes on. Mario seems to be a decent play for Battle Roads. Now, Mario might not seem that good with DP3 cards added in. Not because it isn't good, but because there are different decks in the format and Mario might have better/worse matchups against them. For all we know, when DP4 comes out, and Darkrai is unleashed onto the format, Mario might be the right play against all the fighting weak pokemon being played.
Only a few decks stay playable throughout an entire season. Can't put down Mario because it isn't one of those decks.
These decks didn't need to cover weakness because they could beat random decks of the respective weak types. I don't see Mario doing that, as I've heard of Mario losing to such things as Drapion and Claydol ex. Infernape could beat a bad Empoleon deck most of the time. Banette could beat a bad Sharpedo ex deck most of the time.
LOL, do you have any experience with Mario outside of what KingGengar posts? KG lost once to Drapion and once to Claydol ex. I'm sure you've lost against something because of bad luck or just a bad matchup nobody expected. We all have. How can you use that against Mario if it can apply to any deck?
You also put down the players that were playing Drapion and Claydol ex. You assume their lists were automatically bad.
People choose to run Lucario by itself simply because it's a good card. And all of those Lucario variants have been kept pretty under the radar (except Lucario/Empoleon), and the FEW people who played them DID do well.
Those lucario variants aren't under the radar. If I know about them, then they aren't under the radar. Think about that for a second. Me, with no affiliation with any group, knows about the so-called "under the radar" ideas.
A "few" people did well with mario too. Why can one "bad" idea get bashed while another "bad" idea not get mentioned at all?
That leads to a good point. Why bash just Mario? Why not bash other decks you don't like? Why single out Mario?
I hate kricketune so much more than mario. Kricketune is so consistent and is a monster to play against. I'd love to see a card made called "Bug Spray" with just one effect, "KO all Kricketune on the field." And if I ever mention hating other decks, I will mention hating kricketune because that's only fair.
Again, Lucario/Blissey is 2 very good turn 2 starts. They are both stage 1s so no matter who you start, you have a good start and should win the game vs almost any given deck unless its built to counter it, as both a T2 Blissey and a T2 Lucario is tough for the opponent to handle. A T2 Machoke, on the other hand, doesn't scare anyone. This same factor is the reason Medicham/Hariyama worked. I didn't play back then but from what SHPanda has told me, it was a deck that could consistently do things T2, no matter who started.
You still don't address that Lucario/Blissey have no synergy outside of them being two good stage 1's. Seriously, people bash on KG's ideas because he pairs up two good pokemon (not talking about mario, but his other ideas) and then Lucario/Blissey comes around and people praise it. -_-'
Boost energy IS what makes that deck tick. You use Dodrio as a finisher of sorts and a midgame setup spread for Lucario to finish sometimes. You don't go powering up a Dodrio one energy by one enrgy early. This lost viability in it folding to Rampardos, but with Rampardos pretty much out of the picture (fold to Blissey), it might be viable again.
Boost Energy helps keep the deck from falling apart. I agree with you there. But Lucario doesn't do anything with Boost Energy, so a big part of the deck is just useless in many situations. Lucario/Dodrio have synergy, but just don't work because of how different they are in how energy efficient they are.
3-4 slots make all the difference in a consistent trainer engine. Simply put, Mario either sacrifices tricks (Lake boundary, PP) for consistency, or vice versa. Because of its inefficiencies, there is no room for both. I've said before that I personally think Empoleon/Lucario is inconsistent and wouldn't play it, but it's still 3-4 draw more consistent than Mario
I can agree that 3-4 added trainers can change how good a deck can run. I just don't understand why the mario engine can't come close to the empoleon engine. Why does the mario engine have to automatically be bad while the empoleon engine is automatically good?
I've never lost to Mario in my life, nor have most of the people who contributed to this article, if that's what youre implying.
That wasn't what I was implying. You've made it very clear to everyone that you have never, ever, in your entire life time, even before playing Pokemon, lost to Mario in any competition with cards and people.