Suicune/Ludicolo Storms the Meta!

Alola trainers! Winter is here in some places but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a bit of fun by the water. My name is Acro today we are going to explore my favorite deck in the meta, Suicune/Ludicolo! This is an amazing deck that does not rely on any VMAX Pokémon, meaning we will force our opponent to go through 3 Suicune V (EVS 31) to win the game while our damage output can easily two-shot or even one-shot opposing VMAX Pokémon.

Suicune V was very underrated before Evolving Skies was released. Everyone was looking at the poster boy, Rayquaza VMAX, but I knew Suicune had the potential to become one of the best Pokemon online decks out there and the results from online tournaments only confirmed my intuition. Suicune quickly became one of the top contenders alongside Single Strike Urshifu VMAX and to some measure Dragapult VMAX and Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX, and now Suicune has another hill to climb with the now very popular Mew VMAX.

Before we start, remember to grab all the PTCGO codes you need to build your decks here at PoTown Store. We’ll be using the Drizzile/Inteleon engine, so I would highly suggest grabbing an Inteleon VMAX League Battle deck and if you’re missing the Quick Shooting Inteleon, you can try your luck with the Chilling Reign Build & Battle PTCGO codes! Now that we have all the tools we need, let’s move on to the list!

Suicune V is a very versatile card. Not only does it serve as our main attacker, but it can also function as a small boost to the overall consistency of the deck with its ability, Fleet Footed, which allows you to draw a card from the top of your deck, more often than not, getting you out of an awkward hand or a fatal Marnie. Let’s focus on the offensive aspect and take a look at its attack, Blizzard Rondo. It does 20 damage + 20 for every Pokémon on both your bench and your opponent’s. Meaning that with a full bench on both sides you’ll be doing 220 damage before applying Weakness and Resistance. This is the magic number to One-Hit KO most Pokémon V and easily 2-shot any VMAX in existence. But it doesn’t end there, we also have a way to boost our damage to 320 with the next piece of the puzzle, Ludicolo!

Ludicolo is a crazy addition to Suicune V and it helps turn the tide of the game in a single turn. Its ability, Enthusiastic Dance reads: When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, you may use this Ability. During this turn, your Basic Pokémon’s attacks do 100 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon. This means that suddenly you have a full HP VMAX Pokémon at the range! If you take a strategic KO with Ludicolo, chances are your opponent won’t have enough time and resources to build another attacker, giving you the edge on the match. To get there, we must have our Lotad bench and find Rare Candy + Ludicolo, but that’s not hard to do with the reliable consistency of the Drizzile/Inteleon Engine.

You’ve probably read 101 articles talking about how great the Drizzile engine is, so I’ll cut to the chase. Drizzile is so popular because it works and is absolutely necessary for the deck to work properly. Starting with Sobble, in my list I prefer running the Rapid Strike version as you can use Keep Calling on your first turn going second to look for the other 3 Sobble, but if you’re constantly having your Sobble KO’d by opposing Inteleon or other spread Pokémon you could also run the 70HP version (SSH 55).

Next in line is Drizzile (SSH 56), its amazing ability Shady Dealings allows you to search your deck for any Trainer card and put it in your hand. This is amazing! In the early game, it can help fill your bench looking for Level Ball/Quick Ball or guarantee your attachment for the turn with Capacious Bucket. Late game, can also help you set up Ludicolo, find Melony to accelerate energy, or set your next Suicune in a turn or simply to find Boss for the game. When you evolve to Inteleon (SSH 58), Shady Dealings can look for two trainer cards instead. More often than not, this Inteleon will look for Evolution Incense to get Ludicolo and Rare Candy to evolve it and use Enthusiastic Dance’s effect to take an important KO.

Last but not least, we have the Quick Shooting Inteleon (CRE 43). Its ability allows you to place 2 damage counters in one of your opponent’s Pokémon. With both Inteleon set up, the damage really starts to stack up and while you are 2-Hit KOing a VMAX in the active, you can snipe a benched Pokémon V or VMAX to easily take back to back KOs. If you identify the threats early on in the matchup and you spread your damage among them, you can set up a checkmate scenario, in which you have one or more outs to winning the game the following turn!

Short answer: yes, but it’s not that simple. Mew and Suicune mirror each other in many aspects. Both require two attachments to start doing serious damage and both have a way to accelerate energy with Melony/Raihan and Elesa’s Sparkle, both rely on having the right Pokémon on the bench, both have solid two-prize attackers and both have a consistent engine to cycle the deck and get the cards you need. The similarities end when Mew evolves into its VMAX form and jumps into a 310HP beast of an attacker. It might seem like the matchup is heavily favored for Mew but there’s one card that can balance the game in your favor, Cape of Toughness. For those who don’t know, Cape increases the HP of a Basic Pokémon by 50HP, meaning you’re out of range of Genesect’s 210 damage attack, forcing the Mew player to burn 2 of their 4 Power Tablets to KO your Suicune. If they whiff Power Tablet or price one of them, you’re golden!

When going against Mew, your game plan should be to apply pressure early on to a Mew V/VMAX and set up a comfortable 2-shot for your first 2-3 prizes and then focus on a couple of Genesect for the game. Alternatively, you can bench Lotad and set up the One-Hit - KO on the second Mew VMAX with Ludicolo and a couple of turns of Inteleon pings to get those last prize cards. If you practice the match enough, you’ll find out that this game plan can get you even odds of defeating Mew, and the game will be favored to whichever player can properly set up first.

Suicune is and will continue to be one of the best Pokemon online decks out there. It’s fast, reliable, and has good and even matchups against pretty much every deck in the current meta. The fact that Suicune V is only a two-prizer in this VMAX era instantly gives you an advantage against slower Pokemon online decks. While other variants might also see a fair amount of play, especially the Ice Rider Calyrex version, the Ludicolo variant will continue to be the stronger version of the deck in my opinion. I hope you liked reading my insights on this, my favorite deck, and try out my list in the ladder and even in your next online tournament. My name is Acro and this has been my deck profile on Suicune/Ludicolo. As always, remember to get your Fusion Strike Pokémon TCG Online codes in PoTown Store to trade for the cards you need. Happy reading!

Lalo, a.k.a Acro, is a Mexican pro player, member of Brave Birds, the best competitive Pokémon TCG team in Mexico. Acro has been playing competitively for the last 8 years, qualifying in 9th place in Mexico for the Player’s Cup IV and he’s looking to obtain his maiden Regionals win this upcoming 2022 season. His all-time favorite Pokémon is Mudkip.