Swamp Thing- Total Control

[waynegg]

This isn't for deck help. After much deliberation, I decided to put this out there for others to use if they would like. It is a very effective deck against anything you could face, but it does have to be played intelligently to do well. Hope you enjoy it!

4 Psyduck
2 Golduck
3 Mudkip
2 Marshtomp
3 Swampert
2 Baltoy
2 Claydol
2 Slowpoke
2 Slowking
1 Chansey
1 Blissey Prime

3 Pokemon Collector
3 Pokemon Communication
3 Pokemon Reversal
2 Bebe's Search
2 Bench Shield
2 Broken Time-Space
2 Cyrus's Conspiracy
2 Cyrus's Initiative
2 Rare Candy
2 Roseanne's Research
1 Fisherman
1 Luxury Ball
1 Night Maintenance

4 Double Colorless Energy
6 Water Energy

Ok, now I know the first, most obvious question about this deck- Why Cyrus's Conspiracy in a non SP deck? Well, just as you need Roseanne (to a lesser degree in my opinion now) to get you that early basic + Energy, a Cyrus mid game when you still need that one Energy is also helpful with pulling that one Supporter you just have to have on your next turn, like Cyrus's Initiative or Fisherman.

About Fisherman. After having played this deck numerous times, including a very good showing at States, I find that Palmering Energy back into my deck is nice, but more often than not I need them in my hand. Rarely do you need to recycle Pokemon from your discard pile, and in any case that's what Night Maintenance is for.

Roseanne- yes two is plenty in here. Most of the time when you get Roseanne on T1 you are going to get 2 basics to set up. Improve those odds with Pokemon Collector and get 3 basics which you can either bench them all or get strategic and use one to combo with Communication for a possible T1 Claydol or something. Use Roseanne as a Utility card. It's nice for when you have gone through 4 or so of your Energy mid game, to pull a couple more from your deck. Worst case scenario, you use it T1 to get two basics.

Cyrus's Initiative is 'the' something my deck was missing for States and it would have won me at least 2 more games. You are already controlling what your opponent gets to draw with Slowking. Never use Slowking on yourself by the way, the premise of this deck is total control of your opponent's deck, which brings me back to Initiative. With it, you also control your opponent's hand thus not allowing them to play out of your Slowking lock.

Psyduck- the most valuable card in this deck and your obvious starter. Normally when you go first in a game, you are half a turn behind since you can't play any Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums. With a successful Headache lock, you are now a full turn ahead when it gets back to your second turn as it prevents your opponent from playing any T/S/S as well. You have the opportunity for 2 Energy attachments and the privilege of playing the first T/S/S in the game. This is a huge advantage as it sets the tempo of the whole match plus you have the chance to donk with Golduck on your second turn.

Golduck is another invaluable card. With it, you set up your Swampert to have a coefficient Energy attachment of just one for it's attack, instead of 4, when you Water Slide the Energy to your benched Swampert line. Golduck is also very useful in taking out those problematic Gengar SF. Even if you have an active Swampert, you just retreat with a DCE, promote Golduck, use Swampert's Poke Power twice (if need be), KO the Gengar with Water Slide and move the Energy either back to the same Swampert, or a fresh one. Then even if they get the Heads flip on Fainting Spell, you are only losing a Golduck and get to keep all your Energy.

With all this free Energy movement, Blissey Prime is a natural Choice for this deck. Sooner or later you will have several damaged Pokes in need of some healing. All you have to do is move all your Energy to an undamaged Pokemon, drop the Blissey, and voila! No more maimed Pokemon! Blissey is also instrumental in deconstructing the dreaded LuxChomp!

Wow! I forgot to explain Slowking, and how it's your key to success. I hope others who have read this article come back if they don't understand its importance here. Slowking lets you look at the top 3 of your opponent's deck every turn and arrange them as you see fit. Early in the game before you are attacking with Swampert you should use it to make sure your opponent isnt drawing into anything they need. This will in an extreme way slow down their set-up. Later when you ARE attacking with Swampert you want to arrange the cards so that the card they need most is on top of the deck, the card they don't need at all is second, and the other one is 3rd. Then you mill their needed card to the discard and they get a dead draw. Rinse and repeat every turn. Don't forget.

The Supreme Victors Marshtomp is perfect to your strategy. You have a severely damaged active Swampert that's full of Energy. Marshtomp allows you to 'Plunge' right in, taking all of Swampert's Energy with it. Then you simply evolve to a shiny new Swampert. Trust me, your opponents are gonna hate this!

Now the one that binds it all together, Swampert GE. Four for 80 sounds like it stinks at face value, but DCE brings it down to three. Golduck's Water Slide as I said brings it down to the equivalent of one. One for 80. Plus you get to discard the top card of your opponent's deck. This is how you turn the screws on your opponent's thumb cuffs. They're having an Energy drought? Help them out and discard all their Energy. They need to recover? Bye-bye Palmer! The options are endless, and deadly, thanks to the Slowking synergy!

This isn't a Claydol dependent deck. If you get 3 to 4 turns of Cosmic Power, you generally don't need it anymore. You can use it for later however for attaching water Energy to it and Slowking so they can later be moved with Wash Out to where you need them.

Bench shield is generally better in the current atmosphere than Unown G, so that's why I went with it. Unown G just didn't do enough for me at States where it was in the deck.

Now, since I've gotten through the explanation of why what cards and how they all work together, let's talk about taking out the big four. While you can have a favorable match-up against any deck (even the green and yellow ones) if you get your opponent under your control quickly enough, this deck consistently trounces Gyarados, Gengar, and even LuxChomp. You do have to know specific strategies to employ when facing them though. Here we go!

Gengar
The biggest obstacle to overcome is Claydol. Take it out and everything falls into place. Use your Reversals to this end. If Gengar can't draw, it becomes very stagnant.

You aren't playing ANY LV. Xs so Gengar X plays no concern to you as it is still a 2HKO. When you get the chance, KO other lower HP bench sitters, and remember to only KO the SF with Golduck while moving the Energy to another of your Pokemon and this match up is very easy.

The main thing to mill with Slowking/Swampert is Gengars and recovery cards. With Cyrus's Initiative, you want to eliminate the recovery and set-up cards.

Gyarados
This is more strategy intensive, but also an easy win if you stick to your game plan. You can't be too concerned about giving up a prize or two in order to get your set up perfect to ruin the Gyarados player's strategy.

Here, Slowking plays every bit as important of a roll as Claydol, if not more so. Don't neglect getting it out there. The earlier you can control what your opponent draws, the better. Use your Cyrus's Initiatives to get rid of any cards they may be holding that will help them to play out of your lock such as any recovery card or set up card. Make sure they are your top priority for discarding with Swampert as well.

What you are going to do is allow them to get their Magikarps into the discard pile, and exchange prizes with them for a turn or two until your Swampert is ready to get into the fight. Once they have all their Karps discarded, you just KO their Gyarados and deny them the chance to get any of there Magikarps back out of the discard pile by arranging the top of their deck with Slowking and discarding recovery cards with Swampert. No Magikarp = no Gyarados!

Taking out their Claydol, again, helps to make them a sitting duck.

LuxChomp
A misplay here will kill you, so make sure you know this strategy forwards and back. The LuxChomp player's Achilles' Heal is their Energy. They don't have much of it, but make excellent use of what they do have. You have two bench sitters you gotta take out- Claydol (to a lesser extent) and Bronzong G.

Reversals are good here because both are OHKOs for Swampert (after Bronzong has moved Energy at least once).

In the milling part of the strategy, you want to discard any and every Energy you can (especially DCE), Roseanne, Cyrus, Power Spray, and any recovery cards they have. Energy and Power Spray being the most important. You can't out speed it so you have to out play it with a manufactured Energy drought.

Make sure you are getting rid of the same cards from their hand with Initiative, with the emphasis being on Cyrus and Roseanne. Never, NEVER let them keep a Power Spray!

With Luxray and his Bright Look, make sure you don't rely on Golduck or Psyduck after the first 3 turns give or take. It's too easy for them to get back into the game and you don't want that.

After you have accomplished that part of the strategy (easier than it sounds but it is very specific) you simply start picking off their Pokemon while keeping the Energy/Recovery lock going strong. Remember that Blissey is going to be needed to attack and eliminate the Garchomps with ease or you are going to have a tougher time than is necessary.

LuxPluff
Luxpluff is a concern, but ironically straight Jumpluff is more problematic to this deck; an auto-loss if you will. Here's how to pull off a win when facing the front page article.

Get your Slowking set up to control their draw asap. Once you are attacking with Swampert, make sure you are discarding Jumpluffs and recovery cards. Energy is your 3rd choice. With Initiative get rid of Draw, Search (Bebe and Communication) Recovery, Jumpluff, and Energy in that order.

Use your Reversals to KO their Claydol and Lux if possible, emphasis on the Claydol as it is a Claydol dependent deck. Most decks are these days so it is almost always a good target.

Jumpluff running Multi Energy is the best thing since sliced bread! Use Golduck's Swim attack to take out their benched 30HP Pokes as long as Multi is attached to ANY of their Pokemon.

Don't neglect to use your Blissey as an attacker here. It's nice for timely healing, sure, but it will help out with the weakness issues and it can tank a bit. You can even use Golduck one turn and Water Slide a DCE and a Water to Blissey and it's good to go the next turn.

[baby mario]

This is such a cool concept. It's very challenging to play in a way that can keep up with meta decks, but it IS possible.

I hope people will give it a try and see that it really can compete.

Great job Wayne

[waynegg]

Thank you for your tireless months of help on it Jak

[ashinto]

i really like this deck, may try it some time.

[espeon1]

Someone at league has been running this forever and it's just EVIL if it gets set up right. stupid swampert.......

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by espeon1

Someone at league has been running this forever and it's just EVIL if it gets set up right. stupid swampert.......

Where do you go to League and what's different about their deck?

[ashinto]

just wondering, does it really matter what slowpoke is used?

[waynegg]

no. it doesn't matter in the slightest which slowpoke you use. they both stink. i just had reverse holos of that one. forgot about that point.

oh yeah, i also like the artwork better. the weakness deal could give the one from great encounters a slight edge, but only slight.

[ashinto]

i'm guessing that it's the same situation w/ the mudkips and chansey.

[Steel_Winger]

Another go at Swampert for you, Wayne. The build looks pretty solid; of course I was wondering about some of the cards like Conspiracy and Initiative, but the explanations helped a lot. This looks like a really fun deck to play. Great job!

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by ashinto

i'm guessing that it's the same situation w/ the mudkips and chansey.

Oh no, no way! The Mudkip can deal 70 damage for 2 with DCE. In a pinch it can save you. It has me, albeit just once.

The Chansey has 100HP and can tank/stall for a couple of turns if need be to buy you extra time when you get a horrible start. All decks do have possible horrible starts, you know? It also has +20 weakness instead of x2.

Originally Posted by Steel_Winger

Another go at Swampert for you, Wayne. The build looks pretty solid; of course I was wondering about some of the cards like Conspiracy and Initiative, but the explanations helped a lot. This looks like a really fun deck to play. Great job!

It's very fun to play, and wow is it competitive if you can handle the challenge of playing it. It can get confusing at times. I made one misplay the whole day at States and it cost me the game and Top Cut. That was before a couple of changes I made, with help and testing, here. This still isn't the exact list I'm running though :)

When was it that I made my first Swampert list? Like 6 or 7 months ago right? This is what it turned into.

[gallade]

Try versus seeker.

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by gallade

Try versus seeker.

I never find myself in need of a particular supporter with this deck. By the time I need it, I will have already gotten it.

[gallade]

Since you need your energy so bad, you can use it instead of a cyrus.

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by gallade

Since you need your energy so bad, you can use it instead of a cyrus.

Now I get what you're saying. We have a lot of Spiritomb down here and when it would be beneficial, I probably wouldn't be able to use it. Cyrus has been working well though. Thanks, it is a good idea :)

[Medaforcer]

I'd try it out, but I don't have any of those swamperts anymore. :P

[Dennis Hawk]

This strategy (Slowking + Topdeck discard + Initiatives) I have used successfully in a Regigigas deck, and seeing the Psyduck, I couldn't help but like this deck.

I would propably have to modify the trainer engine a bit and add something like Giratina PL (Let loose) to futher disrupt, but the general idea of this deck is just so awesome, with some seriously underused cards being made effective. Good job!

[vegitalian]

Love the concept - congrats on almost making top cut with this and thanks for posting it.

[Rogue Archetype]

Wayne.. I FINALLY got around to testing this deck out.

It's a scary T1-T2 because of lack of call and Unown Q.

If I'm against a setup deck that gives me three turns to get myself together, I can give them a strong run for their money.

It took me a couple of games to get my mind right about the Swampert/Slowking combo.

I found myself one attachment behind (between Swamperts) at times.

I truly appreciated being able to pick away at things with Golduck (KO Spiritomb/Sabeleye for free is nice),
while setting up Swamperts.

The deck was, actually, better than I thought it would be. I mean, on the surface, we're talking about Swampert/Golduck!! LOL!

Thanks for sharing. This was an excellent test deck to help my daughter prepare for regionals as it forced her to build around disruption.

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by Rogue Archetype

Wayne.. I FINALLY got around to testing this deck out.

It's a scary T1-T2 because of lack of call and Unown Q.

If I'm against a setup deck that gives me three turns to get myself together, I can give them a strong run for their money.

It took me a couple of games to get my mind right about the Swampert/Slowking combo.

I found myself one attachment behind (between Swamperts) at times.

I truly appreciated being able to pick away at things with Golduck (KO Spiritomb/Sabeleye for free is nice),
while setting up Swamperts.

The deck was, actually, better than I thought it would be. I mean, on the surface, we're talking about Swampert/Golduck!! LOL!

Thanks for sharing. This was an excellent test deck to help my daughter prepare for regionals as it forced her to build around disruption.

I've been running, tweaking, and testing the deck for months now, so I am very comfortable and confident in it, but I do remember how scary T1 and T2 was at first. Now I know when to play what and how to get around obstacles, so I know I can trust it! It is quite unforgiving if you misstep though and can, as I said above, be quite confusing at first!

I'm glad it was able to help you guys out, and hope you will continue to use it as it is, once you get used to it, very good.

As to the Swampert/Golduck- I know what you mean. They sat around in my box for over a year. I hung on to them thinking there was something that could be done with them. About three weeks before it was unveiled that DCE was being released again (THE card that makes this list work), I sold all my Swampert and Golduck lines. After the announcement, I found myself scrambling to buy them back, lol!

The way to not get behind on attachments is easy enough to explain.

1. Trust in attaching to Golduck. You're gonna Water Slide that Energy to Swampert anyhow, or another Golduck. Bouncing the Energy between Golducks can also be helpful in giving you a few extra turns to set up in those rare games where you need it.

2. Go ahead and attach Water to Claydol and/or Slowking. You can later Wash Out the Energy to where it's needed.

3. Don't be afraid to retreat your damaged Swampert using the DCE. You can Wash Out the two Water to a fresh Swampert and chances are you are holding, or will be holding after Cosmic Power, a Double Colorless to attach and complete the circle.

hope that helps ya!

[Kamaki]

I've been working on a swampert discard deck for a while now, and I've been using a sabeleye starter with a quagsire GL (or Bronzong G, but I favor quagsire) tech.

Essentially the first two turns work off of attaching an energy to a benched mudkip, impersonating for a flints willpower, and attaching a second energy to quagsire or bronzong. With a double colorless/warp point you can have swampert out swinging turn two,

Now my argument between quagsire and bronzong came down to what your opponent is playing, against luxchomp quagsire won't be sniped off the bench as easily as bronzong will. If you play against gengar bronzong can get shadow roomed down much faster than quagsire. However, bronzong does have some utility late game for more energy acceleration than quagsire does.

I've also found that one or two expert belts were a nice boost to damage for the energy cost.

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by Kamaki

I've been working on a swampert discard deck for a while now, and I've been using a sabeleye starter with a quagsire GL (or Bronzong G, but I favor quagsire) tech.

Essentially the first two turns work off of attaching an energy to a benched mudkip, impersonating for a flints willpower, and attaching a second energy to quagsire or bronzong. With a double colorless/warp point you can have swampert out swinging turn two,

Now my argument between quagsire and bronzong came down to what your opponent is playing, against luxchomp quagsire won't be sniped off the bench as easily as bronzong will. If you play against gengar bronzong can get shadow roomed down much faster than quagsire. However, bronzong does have some utility late game for more energy acceleration than quagsire does.

I've also found that one or two expert belts were a nice boost to damage for the energy cost.

Well, try this list. You'll find it has a lot more synergy than Quagsire or Bronzong.

[i like burdn of a day]

love this deck idea

[waynegg]

Originally Posted by i like burdn of a day

love this deck idea

The bad part is that after Regionals it won't be any good with the release of UL. That's why I decided to share it. Thanks for the compliment. I had the original idea, but baby mario and others gave it the edge with various techs and strategies.

It's been tested and tweaked every which way by some of the best in the game for months. Other than replacing Cyrus's Conspiracy with VS Seeker if Spiritomb isn't like a cancer in your meta, I don't think it can be improved by enough to matter. You can run Palmer instead of Night Maintenance, but that's more of a preference than an improvement in this case.

[Shino Bug Master]

Why 3 GE Swampert? Why not add 1 SV Swampert to tilt your SP match-up off the chart?