Testing Standard: Lurantis / Tapu Bulu

In an effort to increase his content output, Johnny is going to begin posting test logs. These will be short entries with high level thoughts and observations that will hopefully increase thinkspiration in the Pokemon TCG space.

Male pronouns will be used throughout these articles because Johnny has fallen victim to cis male white hetero normative corporate oppression. Or he is just trying to spin these blogs off in less than 30 minutes and making universally agreeable+grammatically correct pronouns is exhausting.

All obvious considerations about small sample size should be observed. 

 Played: Lurantis / Tapu Bulu

Quick aside: for the past three months, any time I drove by a walmart or target I would stop to see if they had promo Lurantis. I am not proud to say I have checked for promo Lurantis in 4 states, but omg that thing was hard to find. Just buy the single, I know... but then how do I get it online? trade 8 GRI boosters for it??? That is asinine.

Now that I have it, I plan on playing that dude's peppermint pants off.


Pokemon

4 - Fomantis
2 - Lurantis SM25
2 - Lurantis GX

3 - Tapu Bulu GX

2 - Tapu Lele GX

1 - Oranguru SUM

1 - Mew FCO

Trainers

4 - Professor Sycamore
3 - N
2 - Guzma
1 - Brigette / Pokemon Fan Club
1 - Acerola
1 - Olympia
1 - Skyla

4 - Ultra Ball
4 - Max Elixir
2 - Field Blower
1 - Super Rod

3 - Choice Band
3 - Float Stone

3 -  Aether Paradise Conservation Area

Energy

12 - Grass


Game 1 vs Gardevoir GX. Started Fomantis with one Bulu on the bench, went second. Was attacking with Bulu on my second turn. I didn't draw spectacular, Bulu+promo Lurantis just has a math advantage over Gardevoir GX. 1 - 0

Game 2 vs Greninja Break. Started Bulu, ultra balled for Lele and grabbed Fan Club. This was a situation where I prefer Fan Club over Brigette, because I did not have a draw supporter in hand, so I could grab a Lele for my next turn. Not sure if this is actually a good practice, I mean... early game, just playing your hand out and hitting Instruct may be enough to hit a draw/search supporter.Anyway, my opponent N'd me, and none of this really mattered because I was taking knockouts with Horn Attack. He conceded after his second turn.  2 - 0

Game 3 vs Turbo Dark. Two Mulligans on my side, but went first. I chose to Lele for N instead of Fan Club so that my opponent would not start with 8 cards in hand. This was kind of dumb because all I had in my opening hand was a fomantis and a lele. A couple of other misplays that had to do with forgetting my prizes (two choice band were prized) caused me to miss a knockout and fall too far behind. I think this matchup is definitely winnable, I just made a lot more mistakes than my opponent. 2 - 1

Game 4 vs Lycanroc GX / Salazzle GX. Went first and setup with Brigette. Drew well throughout, and Oranguru was clutch. Discarding on Nature's Judgement early in the game is not ideal with this build. I also discarded my super rod off a Sycamore on my second turn and that almost came back to bite me, as I had been thinning my hand with ultra balls to get max draw on Instruct and try to hit energy/elixir, and in the process dumped my third and fourth fomantis... and then the Bulu I was planning on riding for the rest of the game got rocked by Dangerous Rogue GX. Oops. I drew well enough to build another Bulu and win, but definitely should have been more mindful of the game state. September is for learning what cards do! 3 - 1

Game 5 vs Greninja. Went second and just started abusing him with Bulu. Trying to imagine a start bad enough to actually tank this matchup... is very hard. (start one lele, prize the other, opening hand of 4 elixir, super rod and Acerola, then whiff energy and draw support for several turns???) 4 - 1

Game 6 vs Metagross GX. I was able to get a solid setup, just never drew into choice band despite all three being in deck. That forced me to either whiff KOs or overextend (ie discard on Nature's Judgement to knock out Necrozma GX when I had both promo Lurantis out) to take them. I realized too late in the game that Necrozma is actually a great target for Mew FCO. Metagross is difficult to handle if you can't shut off abilities or N away Algorithm GX... but I think with some better draw, and better utilization of tech, I could have won this. 4 - 2

Thoughts on my list: I played a very similar build at league last weekend and rolled seniors all afternoon. When this deck comes out in the right order and you draw decent (which happens about 60% of the time?), it is a bear to deal with. The clean math of Nature's Judgement + Sunny Day + Choice Band is very strong against decks I am discovering to be popular in new Standard. An underrated part of this is how well Sunny Day + Flower Supply flows into Tapu Bulu.

Is it better than Vikavolt / Tapu Bulu? That is really hard to say. I have not played Vikavolt / Tapu Bulu yet (plan on doing that tomorrow), but at face value I see them trading a lot of things off with each other. The Lurantis build offers perfect math and OHKO on anything in the format. The Vikavolt build allows you to power up most attackers in one turn.

The supporter line in this list needs some work. I would definitely yank Olympia for another Guzma, and possible replace Acerola with a Max Potion, Pokemon Center Lady, another N... or maybe Sophocles? Acerola is great for clearing a spot on a cramped bench, but when your best access to her is through Tapu Lele, it is kind of self defeating. Skyla is rarely an optimal play, but the deck really struggles if you can't access choice band when you need it.

On that note, I had initially considered trying out fighting fury belts, but after playing with this deck over the past week or so, it is clear that the strength of this deck is hitting perfect numbers, and choice band plays a huge roll in that.

Float Stone could drop to 2.

I hate playing Aether Paradise Conservation Area because that name is way too long to type, much less say, but I think it is handy against Gardevoir and anyone relying on Choice band to hit 180. That being said, 3 stadiums might be excessive given the 2 field blower.

I have played this with Tapu Koko SM30 in Mews slot. My only requirements for this slot is that I want a something that has free retreat, and some type of useful attack. Tapu Koko has some nice bulk to it with Aether Paradise Conservation Area out, but after I saw how easy it is to get SM25 Lurantis out, and how infrequently people mess with it due to how quickly your attackers put pressure on, Flying Flip became a lot less appealing. There are a few players who are in love with Espeon at my league, which opens some decent opportunities for Mew. I am probably putting too much thought into this, but in small tournaments I like to decrease my mulligan odds as much as reasonably possible, so while 10 basics has you mulligan 23% of the time, 11 bumps that down to 19%... and I have convinced myself that is worth something?

Another choice would be to just add another Lele, but I have not found a useful attacking roll for Lele in this deck, so starting Lele without a way to get it off the field is kind of frustrating.

I feel like 12 energy is perfect. As are the Fomantis/Lurantis, Tapu Bulu and Oranguru counts. If you are playing a deck that aims at turn 1 Brigette, you HAVE to include Oranguru. I am going to start counting how many cards I pull with Instruct in each game, but will not be surprised if the average is like 8-10.

Overall The list needs some light massaging to smooth out opening hands. If it starts well, this deck builds momentum quickly and is difficult to slow down. I am curious to experiment with Vikavolt / Bulu to compare.