Aura Assault! Lucario/Crobat Deck July 2015

Pokemon (15):

2x Lucario-EX
1x Jirachi-EX
4x Zubat
4x Golbat
4x Crobat

Trainers (36):

1x Computer Search
2x Crushing Hammers
4x Hypnotoxic Laser
1x Sacred Ash
1x Startling Megaphone
1x Super Scoop Up
3x Trainer Mail
3x Ultra Ball
2x VS Seeker
1x Colress
2x Korrina
1x Lysandre
1x N
4x Professor Juniper
1x Skyla
2x Silent Lab
3x Virbank City Gym
3x Muscle Band

Energy (9):

5x Fighting Energy
4x Strong Energy

Main Focus of the deck: Lucario-EX

Lucario EX is a fighting type Pokemon with 3 attacks. For 1 energy you can use it’s Missile Jab attack which does 30 damage ignoring resistance. For 2 energy Lucario has Corkscrew Smash. 60 damage is rather underwhelming but the advantage of this attack is being able to draw until your hand has 6 cards. This leads to consistent advantage and a lot of extra damage on following turns. Lucario’s final attack is somersault Kick which does 100 danage for 3 fighting energy.

Lucario-EX doesn’t have the best damage output but being fighting type he can take advantage of strong energy which adds 20 damage while fulfilling one fighting energy requirement in an attack cost. Equipping a muscle band also adds 20 damage to each of Lucario’s attacks. This means with a strong energy and a muscle band Lucario can deal 70 damage on the first turn. Open with a hypnotoxic laser and a virbank city gym and you’ve dealt 100 damage on your very first turn. That’s when this deck gets dangerous.

Supporting cast

Lucario’s supporting cast in this deck is the Crobat Evolution line. Lucario’s attacks  can set up 2 hit knockouts but he often misses OHKO’s. The bats are here to deal that extra damage. Zubat has free retreat making it an excellent lead mon. Golbat deals 20 damage to any defending Pokemon when you evolve Zubat into it, while Crobat deals 30 in the same way. As a result, even the bench is not a safe place for opposing Pokemon because the bats can target any Pokemon.

Jirachi-EX is simply here to add consistency to the deck by allowing you to add a supporter to your hand the turn you play it. Be sure that Silent Lab is not in play or your Jirachi-EX will be useless!

The Trainers and Supporters

The Trainer line-up sports an arsenal of cards meant to search through the deck as rapidly as possible. Trainer’s Mail, Ultra Ball, and Computer Search give you those options. Crushing Hammer and Hypnotoxic Laser are meant to put a wrench in your opponents plan, potentially slowing them down for you to take advantage. Try to couple Hypnotoxic Laser with Virbank City gym for extra damage, and don’t forget the Muscle Band item.

The supporters are pretty straight forward, however this deck has only 1 N. That’s because with this deck you can grab prizes quickly and with Corkscrew Smash you can easily get more resources. But if N is necessary recycle it with VS seeker. Korrina is important as it can search Lucario as well as an item such as Muscle Band or Hypnotoxic Laser, because ideally in your first turn you want Lucario, Hypnotoxic, Muscle Band, and Virbank City Gy

Lastly we have dual Stadiums. Virbank City Gym is obvious, but Silent Lag may be a head scratcher. I like Silent Lab in here because it shuts off Shaymin-EX’s Set-Up. So many players rely on multiple Shaymin-EX and stopping them all with one card could be important. Suicune and Sigiglyph with Safeguard are also hindered by Silent Lab.

Strengths of the deck

This deck has a great late game push due to the consistent damage output that you can produce without actually attacking. The amount of draw power that you gain from the Trainer line-up really gives this deck an edge toward the end after both players have drawn a couple prize cards and the N supporter is more powerful. With this deck not only do you have Trainer draw but you also have Lucario’s Corkscrew smash to get you more resources at the end of the turn.

This deck has a good matchup against Lightning and Darkness decks that don’t use Yveltal-EX. Even Yveltal can be dealt with using your lasers and virbank, the damage will be slow but with most Yveltal Decks once you take out or cripple Yveltal-EX the rest of the game is fairly easy, especially when you can Lysandre up Darkrai to prey on it’s Weakness to Fighting.

Weakness of the Deck

This deck is extremely weak to Seismitoad and Seismitoad Garbodor decks. Seismitoad’s Quaking Punch will shut off all items, and this deck desperately depends on item cards. Also most Seismitoad decks run Enhanced hammer which will destroy your Strong Energies as well. Garbodor stops your Bats from doing anything, and so it is important to target and eliminate any Trubbish your opponent plays before they can evolve it.

This deck will also struggle against the new Mega Rayquaza deck. Mega Rayquaza can dish out a huge amount of damage and one-shot Lucario-EX. It also resists Fighting making it that much more difficult to knock out.

What do you think?

Lucario is a fan favorite and I’m excited to see him in action! Do you think it could be better? I certainly do so make sure to leave your improvements in the comment section below! Thanks for reading see you next time!