Hello again to another edition
of Blaze’s Banter. As promised
last week, today we are going to
take a look at a generic edition
of the ever popular and talked
about Ludicargo deck that has
been popping up at Regional
tournaments across the country.
I say generic because depending
on your area’s metagame you can
make any necessary changes to
the decklist that I provide to
you fine folks that read here at
Pojo.
So what the heck is Ludicargo
you say? Well basically it is
the combination of using
Magcargo’s Smooth Over
Poke-Power in conjunction with
Ludicolo’s Swing Dance
Poke-Power to draw any card you
want 1x per turn. Well why not
just use Pidgeot’s Quick Search
Power then? Well you see some
people still prefer Pidgeot but
now Pidgeot players have to
worry about the stadium card
Battle Frontier and all the
Lightning types that are so
dominant. Anyways if you used
Pidgeot with Ludicolo it
wouldn’t be called Ludicargo and
we wouldn’t be having this
discussion. So the power to get
any card you want that isn’t in
your prizes is so powerful.
This is why that you will see
that this deck can run single
copies of trainer cards and get
away with it.
Ok so your setup will consist of
getting that critical Strike and
Run attack with Dunsparce as
this will setup the most
powerful attack of Ludicolo’s
Circular Steps. Circular Steps
does 10 damage times the number
of Pokemon in play excluding the
Ludicolo that is attacking.
Although you will be vulnerable
to an opponent’s Steven’s Advice
with a full bench you can also
benefit from his/her large hand
by using Copycat. So it is a
give and take situation. Setting
up your Magcargo and Ludicolo is
the key. This is why I have
tech’d in one HL Jirachi. Again
this is a call for you to make
but Rock-Lock is still a popular
deck and the use of Jirachi’s
Make a Wish will help protect
your evolutions from being ATM
Rocked so easily. With any deck
that uses Scramble energy you
will not mind to have your
Dunsparce or Jirachi ko’d as a
quick way to use Scramble for a
ko on your opponents active.
The use of 3 Candy some people
may say is much in this deck
since we are using Jirachi. But
take a look at the quickness of
this deck. You have many
options. If you just used a
Briney on your active Ludicolo
you can then Rare candy another
onto the bench. You can also
use Candy on a Slugma to get a 1st
turn Magcargo and start to
Smooth Over for what you need.
There are many possibilities and
with 3 evo lines Rare candy is
always a good idea. But just
remember that you want to get
out Magcargo as fast as you can
in this deck.
Lets take a look at our 3rd
evo line of Hidden Legends’
Lanturn. Most people don’t
consider a true Ludicargo deck
if it has Lanturn or any other
evo line it. But since Zappy-ex
is a powerhouse, the use of
Lanturn in this deck will help
with Ludicolo’s Lightning
weakness. With Lanturn’s
Lightning Strike it can take out
Zappy-ex in one hit or in a
mirror match it can take out
Ludicolo in one hit. Also with
Lanturn’s Poke-Power: Energy
Grounding it also gives you
flexibility to save a basic
energy card from your knocked
out active Pokemon and attach it
to a benched one. Also Lanturn
provides another attack option
if you happen to run into decks
that have Water Resistance like
Rayquaza-ex or Sceptile decks.
And remember that Magcargo can
also be an attacker if necessary
by using the Scramble energy.
Just watch out for Slaking,
Vileplume-ex (that will shut off
the use of 11 of your trainers)
and Muk-ex that can really shut
this deck down since it relies
heavily on Poke-Powers. If that
is a problem in your metagame
then I suggest to take out the
Lanturn line and run 2-2 DX
Grumpig that can ohko at least
both of those Psychic weak
Pokemon with its Extra-Ball
attack. In dealing with Slaking
try to swarm with Ludicolo and
use its 1st attack to
heal when necessary.
Pokemon: 21
4 - Dunsparce
3 - Lotad (surprise)
2 - Lombre
3 - Ludicolo (Swing)
2 - Slugma
2 – Macargo (Smooth Over)
2 - Chinchou
2 – Lanturn (HL)
1 - Jirachi (HL)
Trainers: 24
3 - TV Reporter
3 - Steven's Advice
3 – Celio’s Network
3 - Rare Candy
2 - Copycat
2 - Battle Frontier
1 – Desert Ruins
1 - ATM Rock
1 - Crystal Shard
1 – Mr. Briney’s Compassion
1 - Swoop! Teleporter
1 – Strength Charm
1 - Vs Seeker
1 – Warp Point
Energy: 15
8 –Water
2 - Lightning
3 - Double Rainbow
2 - Scramble
Well I hope you enjoyed this
article. This weekend I’ll be
at the New England Regional
Championships held at TJ
Collectibles in Milford, Mass
right outside of Boston. So if
you are going to participate
come and say hi! Also please
contact me at
JSChimento@aol.com
or AIM me at JSChimento if you
wish to discuss this article or
any decks.
