Jumpluff: Locked and Re-loaded

Introduction

Hi everyone! I know it’s hard for anyone to take my deck analysis articles seriously after writing about Pokemon player psycho-babble and Claydol love poems, but just put down your Nintendo DS for a minute and work with me a little.

I wrote an article a few weeks ago about VileTomb and its incredible ability to provide a very competitive trainer lock strategy. This article provides a specific deck build which combines the speed of Jumpluff with the trainer lock strategy of Vileplume.

Jumpluff did very well pre-rotation and I believe won in the Juniors division at Worlds this year, and many believed that it would die out with the passing of Claydol (Oh, Claydol, with Cosmic Power, how I …. STOP IT!!!! Sorry, still had get a hold of myself). However, Jumpluff can still rock out in this new format as you will see below.

Important Pokemon

First up is Spiritomb and the Viletomb evolution- aka VileTomb- not Spiritplume, Vilespirit, Tombplume- VILETOMB. Seriously, what sounds scarier- VILETOMB or spirit-plume??? OK, back on subject. The ideal starter would be Spiritomb so that you immediately start with the trainer lock and use it to set up your Sunfloras (see below) and Vileplume on the bench.

Next up is Sunflora HS. This Pokemon is used for its “Sunshine Grace” Poke-Power that lets you search your deck for any grass Pokemon once a turn. Once you get 1-2 of these babies on the bench, you can finish up your Vileplumb setup and get to work on Jumpluff.

Finally, you need your full line of Jumpluffs. I won’t spend too much time on this, but most of us know that its “Mass Attack” for 1 Grass Energy lets you do 10 damage for each Pokemon in play, potentially dealing out 120 damage per turn. Unfortunately, its 90 hp makes it a pretty easy KO target, but it’s so easy to bring up a new one that you can eventually wear your opponent down.

Tech Pokemon

This deck doesn’t have a lot of room for techs, but you may find room for 1-2. Some options are the new Vespiqueen for bench protection; Regice for discarding/disruption; and Shaymin LV X with the +40 HP bump. Another good tech is Unown Q which may be helpful if you expect a lot of gusting against Vileplume so you can retreat it easier. Just find what fits your style and gives you a good balance with consistency and utility.

Supporter Split

With a Trainer Lock Deck, your banana split of supporters should always be fully loaded. I personally like to play with 15-20 supporters and no trainers, maxing out Bebe’s Searches and Pokemon Collectors. In addition, you should have several scoops of your favorite flavor of Hand Disruption Ice Cream- Looker’s Investigation or Judge. These are absolutely critical in your SP match-ups to try and eliminate a Dialga G Lv X setup.

Also, sprinkle some Palmer’s Contribution on top to grab your KO’d Jumpluffs and Grass Energies when needed so that you can keep the swarm coming. Finally, throw on some hand refreshers like Copycat, Cynthia’s Feelings or Prof Oak’s New Theory and you’ll have yourself a delicious dessert of Supporters to keep you going strong the whole game (anyone want to go to Dairy Queen now?).

Oh yeah- throw in 3-4 Time-Space Distortions to speed up your evolutions, especially since this deck doesn’t play with Rare Candy (who needs candy when you have Supporter Split??!??)

Energies

This deck will run low energies just like the old Jumpluff- 5-10 Grass and 4 Call.

Basic Strategy

The basic strategy of this deck is as follows: Setup T1 or T2 with Spiritomb and start setting up your Sunflora’s ASAP. Next, get your Vileplume setup to get the trainer lock in place, and then start the Jumpluff swarm. It’s really that simple (and that hard). Your opponent may wind up with 1-2 easy Kos at first, but watch out once you come out swinging with Jumpluff!

Matchups

SP- This has a very good matchup against SP decks as the trainer lock slows down SP decks tremendously. Watch out for a couple of things- 1) Dialga G level X that shuts off the trainer lock bodies and 2) Disruptors like Blaziken FB and Luxray GL Lv X that can drag up and KO your Vileplumb.

Sablelock- Could be a problem, but the trainer lock will definitely slow it down.

Gengar/Vileplume- Gengar is actually a little stronger IMHO at first, but its problem is resetting. Once you KO 1-2 Gengars, it is really hard to get reset up. On the other hand, Jumpluff keeps coming and can eventually take the game.

Downsides

I would say the #1 downside/risk to this deck is the low energy. Without Roseanne’s Research (don’t get me started on that- I feel another poem coming…), it’s hard to get the grass energy when you need it, especially after your opponent KO’s 1-2 of your Jumpluff. You may want to play around with the # of supporters, call energies or Spiritomb to get a good energy count for your deck.

The 2nd downside is the donk. Most of the basic Grass Pokemon have very low HP, so if you get the lone Hoppip, Sunkern or Oddish start, you may be shaking hands with your opponent about 30 seconds into the game.

Basic Deck Build

Here is the basic deck list for this deck build:

Conclusion

In my testing of possible combos with VileTomb, Jumpluff is really rising to the top due to its Grass synergy, swarming ability, and high damage output. I hope you’ll give it a try sometime!