Lucario PF78: The Anti-Meta Wonder?

[Squirtle_Squad1991]

Hey, everyone;

The deck I am working on is an anti-meta deck that focuses on a Pokemon that has received unjustly little attention, Lucario PF78.

First, let me track back a little. It's obvious that plasma dominates the metagame, and I have no interest in a hundred thousand mirror matches with the same predictable Thundurus EXs. To that end, I've been looking for an anti-meta deck. In the process, I realized (as have most of you, I'm sure) that Thundurs EX, Darkrai EX, and even Absol share a major weakness to :fighting:. With that in mind, I went looking for a :fighting: Pokemon that also could hit for 90 damage to reach that magical 180.

Although there appear to be no such Pokemon, my eye caught Lucario because it could, in fact, reach that number after the opponent has taken at least one prize. This means that, using its only attack for :fighting::colorless::colorless:, Lucario can instantly KO Thundurus EX and Dakrai EX. Neat!

The problem arose, as they often do, when trying to move this from theory to reality. Lucario is a stage 1 in a very fast metagame. Furthermore, his attack demands at least two turns of setup as well (although not in addition), as he does not have access to Colress Machine, Dark Patch, or the effects of Raiden Knuckle. Furthermore, he is unsearchable via Level Ball and Plasma Ball, making him a pain to setup. Also, although 70HP is by no means terrible for a pre-evolved basic, Riolu is easily donked by Thundurus EX and Kyurem. And, to top it all off, Lucario has no means to recover DCE.

To that end, I've tried a few different builds, with almost no success:

Lucario, Bouffalant, and Eels
This deck uses Bouffalant's anti-meta abilities and the fact the Hurricane Kick takes :colorless::colorless:, which can be provided by Eels. The problem is that this metagame is way too fast for offensive Stage 1s, let alone benched stage 1s which are major liabilities and frankly just slow. Also, because Lucario requires :fighting: energy, I need to run three different kinds of energy in this deck: :fighting:, :lightning:, and DCE. No thank you.

Lucario and Victini EX
Victini EX provides substantial energy acceleration, but is a major liability with its low HP. I tried using that to my advantage- sending out a T1 Victini EX, setting up benched Riolu and Lucario, then, once Victini EX has been KOd, using a boosted Hurricane Kick to wreak havoc. In theory, this is lovely, but in practise it is slow and improbable.

Lucario and PlasmaKlang
Although I love Lucario for its attack, its ability is nifty too. It gives Lucario the power to donk Kyurem, yes, but also to use PlasmaKlang's protective powers. The problem is that setup is still too slow. Plus, three types of energy never goes well for me.

I haven't bothered to include decklists because the rest will be fairly standard. What I would like to know is if you think a Lucario deck is worth using at all and, if so, what it can be used with. Please let me know.

 

[Normal guy]

Thundurus EX plus Lucario plus plasma badge

 

[pokedan24]

I see I'm not the only one who's fond of Lucario. The built I use is with Mewtwo and Landorus. Mewtwo and Landorus put the early pressure on, and Lucario comes in after Mewtwo and Lando go down. Here's the list.

Pokemon

1 Emolga (still the ideal starter. Though you only need one)
3 Riolu (The kick and feint one)
3 Lucario (duh)
2 Mewtwo EX
2 Landorus EX

Trainers 36

2 Bicycle
2 Energy Switch
4 lasers
4 Catcher
1 Scramble Switch (ACE spec)
3 Switch
4 Ultra Ball

1 Cheren
2 Colress
3 N
3 Juniper
3 Skyla

2 Exp Share
2 Virbank

Energy 13

9 Fighting
4 DCE

Pokémon are self explanatory, but the trainers are just my playstyle. The one drawback to skyla is that it's a terrible top deck, but with bicycle, you have a draw card you can use the same time you search it with skyla. Energy Switch and Exp Share are sort of the decks acceleration. They let you spread out your energy and still pull off a surprise attack for when you need big damage. Lasers/Virbank are for extra damage and switch/catcher is necessary since the deck doesn't have Keldeo or Darkrai.

 

[SolarPichu]

Cofagrigus might be another option. Pop one and you get 30 damage wherever and Lucario does 30 more damage. I think your best bet for Energy acceleration is to use Double Colorless and you can start kicking turn 2. Exp. Share for your backup Lucarios.

 

[Squirtle_Squad1991]

These are some terrific ideas!

Thundurus EX is nice, but I do worry about Plasma Badges and how unreliable they can be.
I will definitely include EXP share - I actually forgot that it existed!
Are you referring to the Cogarirus that knocks itself out to place damage? If so, I don't think it's worth a stage 1 just to place a little damage and boost Lucario. Emolga, or another starter, can do boost Lucario more easily.

 

[Phadrex]

I did try plasma klang with lucario. And really, it was hard then to set it up as well as klang,, but now with plasma freeze and colress machine everywhere + Kyurem. It's like..why bother.

I say go for it though. It was fun and rogue.

 

[pokedan24]

I did try plasma klang with lucario. And really, it was hard then to set it up as well as klang,, but now with plasma freeze and colress machine everywhere + Kyurem. It's like..why bother.

I think using it in KlingKlang is a mistake (it just over complications things). It's best use as an attacker in :fighting: decks.

---------- Post added 05/27/2013 at 05:38 AM ----------

For energy acceleration, there's always etherdex (lunatone works too). There's also Terrakion EX. If you can get that powered up (with etherdex), you can power up your other attackers while hitting them for 90. (if you go that route, forgo the DCE since it can't be accelerated).

Another thing I thought of was Solrock from PS. You can blow yourself up for 90 which also powers up Lucario. It helps that they both use the same energy type.

 

[Flygon999]

I've been looking for an anti-meta deck/card for a while and this idea of Lucario really stands out to me!

Obviously you want to run Blends so that you can OHKO Kyurem but using Klinklang is going to be difficult obviously because it is a stage 2 and in this format with strong hitting basics, you're going to struggle.

Lucario's Pros:

OHKOs Darkrai EX
OHKOs Thundurus EX
OHKOs Kyurem

Lucario's Cons:

OHKO'd by Deoxys EX
Donked by Mewtwo EX
Stage 1
100 HP

Since you're going to run DCE you may as well run Tornadus EX with Virbank and a couple of Lasers for a good starting attacker, then gradually come out with Lucario later on. I think that Lucario paired with a few decent EX attackers and a consistent list could do better than most anti-meta decks. I'm gonna try it out and see.