Just Dance!
Ludicolo is one of the most charasmatic Pokémon of all time, I love it so much! Its derpy dancing in the video games have always translated well into the card game via its fitting artwork, ability and attack names. Just to name a few, "Enthusiastic Dance", "Groovy Dance", "Captivating Rythm", and "Circular Steps". But smooth moves isn't all Ludicolo has underneath its stylish sombrero, it was once one of the best meta decks in the game.
That's right, this Ludicolo from EX Deoxys was a hard-hitting competitor way back in 2005. With the help of its partner Magcargo, also from the same set, just a few months after its release it was seeing impressive finishes at major events, such as making finals in the 2005 US National Championships! If you look into that event, you'll see that another one made Top 8 as well. Additionally, it won multiple Nationals from other countries around the World too!
But it didn't stop there, Ludicolo (or LudiCargo as the deck was dubbed) smoothed its way into Top 8 of the 2005 World Championships, piloted by the previous 2004 World Champion Tsuguyoshi Yamato! And LudiCargo did even better in both the Senior and Junior divisions, making Top 4 in each respectively. If we take a second to look at Tsuguyoshi's list from Worlds, we can get a better grasp on why this deck was so successful.
If you had read Ludicolo's "Swing Dance" Poké-Power earlier, you would have guess that getting to draw an extra card every turn was pretty good. But paired with Magcargo's "Smooth Over" Poké-Power... LudiCargo essentially had the same engine as any Pidgeot deck in format. With Ludicolo's "Circular Steps" attack, it could swing for 110 damage, as long as both bench's were full, and in this format, they usually were. Of course, like most decks that rely inpart to its opponent's decisions, Ludicolo could be outplayed by any player unwilling to bench extra Pokémon. But that clearly didn't stop it with its incredible accomplishments as a deck. I do believe that its damage cap of 110 often times held it back however, especially against the likes of the deck that won the 2005 World Championships, Queendom. But with the added buffs in Strength Charm and Desert Ruins, Ludicolo had little issue with handling the rest of the format.
A fun fact that I bet you didn't know: Pokémon must have loved the deck so much, that they practically reprinted this Ludicolo and Magcargo in Sun & Moon: Celestial Storm! They did so with their entire evolutionary lines in fact, reusing the original artwork too!
EX Deoxys (2005)
Celestial Storm (2018)
Enjoy this Card of the Month excerpt? Any fun stories regarding Ludicolo for those of you that played nearly 20 years ago? Did you ever try to make a deck out of the reprinted Sun & Moon cards? Was I wrong in that you already knew that fun fact? Tweet us at @PTCG_Legends using the button below and let us know! And if you enjoy what you see, consider supporting us on Patreon, link below!
