Hey friends, Phinn again. This article is mostly an update on lists going into Nationals. Most of my time has been put into practicing Vespiquen, Zoroark, and Garbodor; however I have come up with some other lists like Raichu Lycanroc, and Raichu Bats.
I’m not going to go into a ton of detail on any of these decks, because I have already covered all of them in separate articles. Espeon Garb is covered here, Zoroark is in this piece, and recently I posted my Gallade variant of Vespiquen here. Raichu, on the other hand, is unexplained, and frankly is ignored by most article writers. I haven’t noticed a piece about the deck yet, so I figured I would cover it here.
Table of Contents
- Raichu Lycanroc
- Raichu Bats
- Espeon Garbodor
- Zoroark Umbreon
- Vespiquen Herdier Zoroark (no Gallade this time)
- Vespiquen Herdier Zoroark Ariados
Raichu
The idea for this deck was to implement the same concept that Vespiquen, Garbodor, and Zoroark run on. These are all Stage 1 decks that hit for good damage, and at times can one-shot opposing two prize Pokemon. Raichu seemed like an option that could pull this off a little more consistently because it does not rely on the opponent’s actions. Garbodor needs the opponent to play a certain amount of items to knock out in one hit, while Zoroark needs an amount of opposing Benched Pokemon. Raichu relies completely on factors that its own player controls. In many games I can pull off a Turn-2 knock out for two prizes with Circle Circuit.
The more common version of this deck is with Lycanroc, and for good reason. Although, the Bats version is still very strong and has many benefits that people tend to overlook. Golbat has free retreat, making it so the deck needs fewer (or zero!) Float Stones. Golbat also gives the deck practically an auto-win against Gyarados. When facing any deck where the main attackers are EX or GXs, the Bats version is superior. Against decks like Garbodor, it is more vague as to which version would be more helpful. One major issue with Lycanroc is the fact that Zoroark Break can Foul Play to use Lycanroc’s GX attack and OHKO it.
Lycanroc is not a bad option either; Gust of Wind effects are consistently powerful in any form. Lycanroc opts to take down a lower HP target, rather than trying to do enough damage to knock out certain threats. Both strategies work well, but I tend to favor Bats because Pokemon with 200 HP or higher are basically never knocked out in one hit with the Lycanroc variant. I have made lists for both variants; deciding which one is better is up to you. Personally, I find the Bats more attractive.
Raichu Lycanroc
| Pokémon – 21 | Trainers – 35 | Energy – 4 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Pikachu (GEN) | 4 | Sky Field | 4 | VS Seeker | 4 | Double Colorless | ||
| 4 | Raichu (GEN) | 4 | Ultra Ball | ||||||
| 2 | Tapu Lele GX | 4 | Professor Sycamore | 3 | Float Stone | ||||
| 1 | Shaymin EX | 2 | N | 3 | Choice Band | ||||
| 1 | Oranguru | 1 | Professor Kukui | 2 | Level Ball | ||||
| 1 | Drampa GX | 1 | Teammates | 2 | Special Charge | ||||
| 1 | Dragonite EX | 1 | Brigette | 2 | Rescue Stretcher | ||||
| 4 | Rockruff (GRI) | 1 | Lysandre | ||||||
| 3 | Lycanroc GX | 1 | Hex Maniac | ||||||
I think most people will prefer this list because the popular opinion is that Lycanroc is better, but the Golbat list has a lot to offer with Umbreon and Espeon floating around. The 200 number is much more achievable with Sneaky Bite.
This is the other version. I explain both lists below.
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