The Call of Legends expansion set is widely regarded as weak filler with some reprinted staples. Initially, the only cards that received any attention were the LostGar compatible cards. These cards include Lost World, Mr. Mime, to a lesser extent Mime Jr and Slowking. The next coolest aspect of the set was thought to be the reverse holo energies that have Pokémon silhouettes in the background (these are sweet).
Then a second card that received attention was Seviper. I actually played against a cool Seviper deck at Missouri States. That deck paired Seviper with Skuntank G and Miasma Valley to put most Pokemon within OHKO range. However, I am presenting to you another card that might have some potential from the Call of Legends set.
The card that I present to you is Tangrowth. I saw one player playing a Tangrowth deck at Missouri States, and I was immediately interested. I never got to play that player and, by extension, did not get to see how his deck worked. The deck that I am presenting to you is my own interpretation on a Tangrowth that could possibly show some promise. I will start with a deck list with and explanation to follow.
Deck List
| Pokemon – 18
3 Spiritomb AR |
Trainers – 28
4 Judge |
Energy – 14 |
The Cards
Tangela: I go with two of the Tangela from Arceus that allow you to draw as an attack; extra early draw power is never a bad thing. I also go with two of the Tangela from Call of Legends because it aids in energy acceleration.
Tangrowth: This is the main attacker of the deck. It can easily be set up by turn two (possibly turn one). By turn two Tangrowth can easily be swinging for 40-80 damage. The card’s first attack does 20 damage per each energy attached to Tangrowth with a cost of C. With double colorless in the format, Tangrowth can hit hard and fast.
The card also possesses 110 hp. This is a solid number in the format and is outside of OHKO range for most Pokémon. The card has a retreat cost of four, which is very high and could possibly pose a problem. The weakness to fire is not a huge drawback in the current format. If the rotation is RR-On, this card could struggle with the possible play of Charizard increasing.
Tangrowth LV.X: This card’s main purpose is to add 20 hp to the main attacker. In addition to increased hp, the card’s Poke-Power allows the player to flip a coin. If the player gets heads, the player can remove four damage counters from one of his/her Pokémon. Basically, the power is a 50% healing tank. The attack of the LV.X pairs nicely with Blissey. The attack allows the player to take all the grass energy in the discard and attach it to his/her Pokémon in any fashion.
Uxie and Azelf: Standard reasons for inclusion.
Blissey Prime: This card’s Poke-Power allows the player to heal all of their Pokémon when Blissey is played from his/her hand. The drawback is that all energy must be discarded from the healed Pokémon. This is the best mirror for non-SP decks to Garchomp C LV.X’s Healing Breath. The synergy with Tangrowth LV.X is that you heal your Pokémon and then pull almost all the energy lost back from the discard in one turn.
Spiritomb: I love this card as a starter. I believe it is the best starter for any evolution-based deck. It accelerates the evolution lines and slows down your opponent with trainer lock. If you can open with Spiritomb, that is at least one turn that an SP opponent cannot do all of the Team Galatic shenanigans. That one turn can be the difference in a win or loss.
Judge: I absolutely love this card. It disrupts the opponent and allows for a hand refresh. It can single handily keep a non-SP deck within striking distance of a SP deck. There is nothing more satisfying than Judging away a 10-15 card hand from your SP-playing opponent.
Engineer’s Adjustments: This card is a solid draw option. It could possibly be replaced by Team Rocket’s Trickery if you want to focus on a little bit more disruption. However, since this deck runs Tangrowth LV.X, there is not any significant down side to discarding grass energy to draw four cards (one of which is likely to be anther grass energy). This card can come in handy when your Uxie drops are consistently being sprayed.
Miasma Valley: This deck runs almost exclusively grass and psychic Pokémon. Therefore, your opponents will likely be the only person taking 20 damage on each basic put into play.
Broken Time-Space: No Brainer. I only have one in the deck because I only own one. If I had two, I would run two.
Twins: This deck will almost always give up the first prize due to sacrificing the Spiritombs. This card brings you back into the game almost immediately.
Bebe’s Search & Pokémon Collector: Standard Pokémon search staples.
Expert Belt: To give your Tangrowth that extra pop in attack and 20 hp on defense.
Super Scoop Up and Seeker: These are your recovery and reuse cards.
Warp Point: I debated long and hard about including this card. I have decided that it is necessary to have. The effect is close enough to Bright Look for this deck to pass up. Also, this deck and easily swing for 100, but getting to 120 can be challenging. Therefore, this deck needs a way to get the sub 100 hp bench sitters into the active slot and the higher hp attackers to the opponent’s bench.
The energies: The double colorless energy allows this deck to be fast. As mentioned previously, this deck can consistently hit for 80 or better from turn two one. The rescue energy is included to make sure that you can reuse either Blissey Prime of Tangrowth LV.X.
The Strategy
I think that the strategy is straightforward. Ideally, you open with a Spiritomb active and at least one Tangela on the bench. You open with Darkness Grace and bam: you have a powered Tangrowth on turn two. You attach energy every turn and continue to set up multiple Tangrowth. Use Blissey Prime and Rescue energy to keep you side of the field set up. The keys to success are as follows:
- Open Spiritomb
- Use Judge wisely. A well-placed Judge can swing a match in your favor.
- Use Twins wisely. What cards do you pull out, Broken Time Space, Chansey & Blissey, Tangrowth LV.X, double colorless eneryg? This decision is likely going to be the difference between victory and defeat.
The Matchups
LuxChomp: Slightly unfavorable. The real key to this game is resource management. The only Pokémon that are remotely close to snipe range are Uxie and Azelf. So, be judicious in using them (in other words only use them if you MUST). Other than those, everything is going to take a considerable amount of resources to get knock outs for your opponent. The early Spiritomb, even for just one turn, is also a big factor. Delaying the SP Radar, Luxury Ball, Energy Gain, Poke-turn shenanigans is huge.
DiaglaChomp: Push. This matchup is very similar to the LuxChomp game. However, you opponent has fewer options for the quick knockouts without Luxray GL LV.X. As with the LuxChomp game, the longer the game drags on the better your chances of a win become.
Gyarados: Slightly Favorable. Tangrowth has resistance on Gyarados. That is often the key to the match. Both decks set up very quickly and hit for a decent amount of damage early and often. Tangrowth’s second attack could help with this matchup. You could possibly send the rescue energies to the discard and thus severely hinder the recovery of Gyarados. If you opponent has already discarded three magic carp and the fourth is sent to the discard with the rescue energy being sent to the lost zone, your opponent is going to be in trouble.
LostGar: Slightly Unfavorable. As with all LostGar matchups, the key is speed. How fast can you get knockouts? Your opponent is going to get six Pokémon into the Lost Zone before time is called. Can you collect six prizes faster?
VileGar: Slightly Favorable. This deck does not a massive amount of trainers. Most are supporters that can be played under trainer lock. With four Judges and three Bebe’s Searches, keeping your hand size in check should not be too difficult.
Magnezone/Regirock: Unfavorable. Magnezone hits extremely hard and extremely fast. To have a chance at victory you have to play your opponent like a fiddle. Build up you bench Tangrowths. Sacrifice Pokémon that take two or more energy to be Lost Zoned by your opponent. Get him/her to run dry of one type of energy then pray that you still have a powered up attacker that can mount a comeback.
Charizard: Unfavorable. Why is this match-up in here? Charizard is my favorite deck. Honestly, Tangrowth is OHKO’d by a Charizard with ONE fire energy and four fire Pokémon on the bench. That is just too much to overcome.
I have not been able to test this deck against very many other players. I have tested it playing solitaire games on Redshark. I am not the greatest SP player, so the matchups could be a little skewed.
Conclusion
I might personally try this deck out for Regionals after more testing. I played Charizard at my first premier event, Missouri State. I went 3-3 and realized that I needed to try something else. Therefore, I went home and started testing other rogue ideas because I do not have the resources to pull together a LuxChomp or DiaglaChomp deck. If I can pull together a Magnezone/Regirock deck, I might run that. However, the more I test this Tangrowth deck, the more I like it. It is very consistent. It is only a stage one deck and thus, faster than Magnezone or Charizard. If you are looking for a deck to play that is cheap, fun, and decently competitive, then take a hard look at Tangrowth.
Perhaps Call of Legends gave the game more options that most people originally thought, especially after the rotation.
Keep it friendly. I am sure that many people will have different suggestions for this deck (Shaymin, Vespiquen, etc.), just keep the comments friendly and cordial and we all with get alone just fine.
