The Fighting deck Lucario Rampadros is an off-meta choice but is managing to perform in Pokemon Pocket tournaments! This is a non-ex deck, so it’s budget-friendly and can hold up well against most of the meta decks you’ll go up against.
With Lucario‘s ability, you want to run as many Fighting-type Pokemon as possible, making sure you push up their damage to get easier knockouts. Let’s take a look at how this deck works, and what the general game plan is!
Lucario Rampadros Decklist
2 Riolu A2 91
2 Lucario A2 92
2 Cranidos A2 88
2 Rampardos A2 89
1 Hitmonchan A1 155
1 Marshadow A1a 47
2 Professor's Research P-A 7
1 Sabrina A1 225
1 Leaf A1a 68
2 Poké Ball P-A 5
2 Skull Fossil A2 144
1 Pokémon Communication A2 146
1 Giant Cape A2 147How to Play
The Coach
Lucario is a Stage 1 Pokemon, so we want to have Riolu in play as early as possible. Once Lucario joins the battle, its Fighting Coach ability activates automatically, giving all your Fighting-type Pokemon +20 damage to their attacks. This makes it easier for you to knock out your opponent’s Pokemon, demanding less attacks and finishing games quicker.
Fighting Coach also increases the damage of Lucario‘s Submarine Blow, becoming a 60-damage attack.
The Carry
Rampadros is the strongest Pokemon we have, but it’s a Stage 2 Pokemon, so we need a couple of steps to get it in play. Skull Fossil is the card we need early on in the field, unfortunately, we can’t draw it through Poke Ball or Pokemon Communication.
Once it’s in play, we can evolve it into Cranidos, a 90 HP Pokemon with a 50 damage attack. Headbutt only requires 1 Fighting Energy to activate and will become a 70-damage attack if Lucario is in play.
Rampadros is a 150 HP Pokemon with a Head Smash attack that deals 130 damage. It only needs 1 Fighting Energy to activate, so you don’t have to commit a lot of Energy resources on Rampadros to attack. With Lucario’s Fighting Coach ability, you’re looking at a 150-damage attack, enough to knock out most of the opponent’s Pokemon.
However, if Rampadros knocks out a Pokemon, it will also deal 50 damage to itself, making it vulnerable to an opponent’s upcoming attack.
Alternative Damage
Hitmonchan is an early attacker, dealing 30 damage with its Jab attack. It’s not a huge threat but can get you an early knockout, especially if you increase the Jab attack to 50 damage with the Fighting Coach ability.
As for Marshadow, it’s the perfect Pokemon to move to the Active spot when one of your Pokemon was knocked out the previous turn. Its Revenge attack goes from 40 to 100 damage, add the +20 from Fighting Coach, and you’re now attacking for 120 damage to knock out a Pokemon.
Draw Cards
Poke Ball will draw you a basic Pokemon, helping you find Riolu when they’re needed.
Pokemon Communication increases the odds of finding the Pokemon we need to evolve into Lucario and Rampadros. We can choose a Pokemon in our hand and switch it with a random Pokemon from the deck, often we’ll use it to find Lucario, Cranidos, or Rampadros.
Professor’s Research is a Supporter card to draw 2 cards. You want to play it early in the game since you’ll prefer playing other Supporter cards.
Battle Cards
Giant Cape tool gives 20 HP to your attached Pokemon, making it harder for your opponent to knock it out. It’s great to prevent your opponent from one-shotting your Pokemon, giving you an extra turn to attack with it.
Leaf reduces the retreat cost of one of your Pokemon by 2, making it easier for you to retreat without having to discard Energy from it.
Sabrina forces opponents to switch out their Active Pokemon with one of their Benched Pokemon. This can allow you to knock out a more valuable Pokemon or slow opponent’s strategy and force them to retreat and discard Energy to get their plan back on track.
