Lightning Bombs GLC

GLC Lightning Bombs -- Pre-ASC

The Bombs:
Magneton and Electrode

Affectionately nicknamed the Bombs, Magneton and Electrode serve as the main gameplan for Lightning Bombs. Both of these pokemon serve a similar purpose - gift the opponent prize cards so you can proactively play your “comeback” cards. Although I did not play in 2006, this is similar to a powerful Retro deck called PowTar, which also used an Electrode to power up a spread attacker(Dark Tyranitar) and abused “comeback” cards. Whether you’re a big Lightning fan, want to replay a retro archetype, or excited for new GLC ideas, Lightning Bombs may be the deck you try! The goal of this article is hopefully to share the lines and card choices in the deck I used to win an online tournament.

How to Play:

Setting Up:
The deck is built to ideally have a board of Magneton, Electrode, and Electivire. The best opening supporters include Guzma & Hala to get Stormy Mountain/Artazon + Capture Energy + TM Evo. With one card, you can get 2 out of the 3 Electivire, Magneton, or Electrode. For openers without TM Evo, the deck provides Ethan’s Pichu as a free attacker that can chip the active for Electivire’s spread and draw for more combo pieces. If you have energy, Disconnect Luxio provides an opportunity to slow down your opponent through item lock as you set up your board.

One perk of this deck is that going first is relatively comparable to going second. Because the deck focuses on setting up your stage 1s, as long as you are able to find the basics turn 1, you can threaten the Bomb combos immediately before most decks are able to set up.

The priority of Stage 1 Pokemon to set up goes as follows:
Magneton: This is the most powerful pokemon in the deck as Magneton’s call signal sets up your entire strategy through one card. Later I’ll discuss the possible lines through the 3 supporters you grab.

Electrode: Electrode is your energy acceleration so even if you take prizes to turn off the counter energy or reversal energy, you can still chain attacks. In addition, if Magneton or Lt. Surge’s Strategy is prized, you will still be able to attack and put pressure on the opponent.

Electivire: Electivire is only tertiary to Magneton and Electrode as the deck can also attack with Luxray. You should always be threatening Electivire with Electabuzz, but it is not a priority to evolve immediately compared to Magneton and Electrode.

Zebstrika: Unlike typical lightning GLC lists, Zebstrika is more of an afterthought when setting up as Zebstrika is mainly used for the late game when you need to dig through the remaining deck. Usually, you do not want to discard your hand through Sprint given the myriad of supporters in the deck.

Magneton Call Signal:
Now you have a Magneton set up, what supporters do you take? Besides Lt. Surge’s Strategy, the combination of supporters to take from Call Signal is very flexible given the redundancy in the deck. The goal from Call Signal should be 1. Have an attacker set up and able to attack, 2. Hand disrupt after you’ve given your opponent free prizes, and 3. Make sure the attacker can survive another turn. Here are a couple of example supporter combos to take:

Green's Exploration + Ace Trainer: Green's can find the Silent lab/Electivire/Lux cape if you already have Electrode to pop while Ace Trainer hand disrupts and refills the hand. Ace Trainer should be prioritized from Call Signal over all other hand disruption because this is the only conditional hand disruption that requires the opponent to have more prizes.
Green's Exploration + Hilda: Green's can get hand disruption and Silent Lab/Luxurious Cape trainer while Hilda sets up the Electivire or Luxray.
Xerosic + Delinquent: Only used if a stadium is on board and you don't need any supporters to set up your attackers. Can also be effective if you think you have follow-up already in hand. This option is rarely used though as it does not progress your game plan. However, if you are already set up, ripping your opponent’s hand through this powerful combo can make it very hard for your opponent to respond.


When to grab Gladion?
Because of the numerous cards that combo together, Gladion is a necessary card to hedge against prizing. Luckily, because Gladion is a supporter, you can grab Gladion from Call Signal to ideally find key pieces like Silent Lab, Electivire, Luxray, or Electrode. I would not recommend grabbing Gladion from Call Signal to pull Lt. Surge’s Strategy as it telegraphs your turn the following turn.

How do you determine which Pokemon to attack with?

Electivire should be your main attacker as it puts the most pressure on your opponent by using High-Voltage Current. If you set up the Electivire while your opponent is still setting up, 2-3 attacks will typically clear your opponent’s board. However, certain situations warrant Luxray. First, if there is a support Pokemon that warrants an immediate response(i.e. Buddy Catch Gallade), you should try to set up Luxray to OHKO the threat. Second, if the opponent is maintaining a small bench(1 or less) with big basics to play around spread, Luxray can sometimes be a faster clock.


Fighting is so popular. How do you beat Fighting?
A common question that you may think is, how does a Lightning GLC deck beat Fighting? Fighting has become quite popular after the Mega Evolutions base set release and is considered one of the top 3 types. With the rise in popularity, how does Lightning, a type weak to fighting expect to win? Flash energy is the most important card in this matchup. Prior testing, I would struggle to keep my Electivire for multiple attacks against Fighting due to weakness. Flash Energy provides a Lightning Energy while removing the weakness. An Electivire with Flash Energy and Luxurious Cape attached should not be OHKOd by any Fighting attacker except Blood Moon Ursaluna after Ting-Lu spreads. In addition, against Silent Lab and hand disruption, the Fighting opponent should struggle to take the knockout. If the Fighting player chooses to attack with Ting-Lu, it typically struggles to switch out of the active due to its bulky 4 retreat cost. Thus, Electivire is happy to spread for 50 each compared to the 30 from Ting-Lu’s Ground Crasher attack.

Key Inclusions:
For the following cards, I want to discuss why I include them in the deck with a focus on unconventional cards. There is a focus on redundancy and consistency as I believe the deck should function as long as you can set up your bombs.

Ethan's Pichu: The deck wants to set up as consistently as possible, so Ethan's Pichu gives you a free retreat free attacker that can draw an additional card, and chip to help with spread match. Also provides an easy prize, which if the opponent KOs to go to 5 prizes, Call Signal can get Reset Stamp and Delinquent. Blowing up Magneton and Electrode sets the opponent to 3 prizes so Reset Stamp and Delinquent leaves them with a 0 card hand.

Shinx/Luxio: Disconnect is not the main strategy of the deck and is rarely used. However, it is helpful if you need time to set up for slower starts and allows you to build energies before getting Luxray in play

Tapu Koko: Flying Flip can clean up KOs and Electric Ball can serve as a 3rd attacker in a pinch.

Luxurious Cape: You hope to sweep with your 2 attackers(Electivire and Luxray), so you want them to stay on the field as long as possible especially with the energy commitments. As such, the extra 100hp from Luxurious Cape can save your Pokemon for an extra turn.

Flash Energy: Necessary for the Fighting matchup because weakness makes it a lot easier to KO Electivire with a Luxurious Cape.

Artazon: Extra consistency in case you prize the Stormy Mountain so you can Guzma & Hala into Artazon + TM Evo + Capture Energy which sets up the entire game

Counter Gain: Similar to Artazon, gives redundancy for when Reversal Energy is prized, you can get Counter Gain + Counter Energy from

Guzma & Hala

Hand Disruption: As general note, there are 5 hand disruption cards in the deck: Ace Trainer, N, Iono, Red Card, and Reset Stamp. The deck heavily relies on disrupting the opponent to mitigate the free advantage given from Magneton’s Call Signal and Electrode’s Buzzap Thunder. The flexibility between supporters(Iono and N) which can still be used early to set up is imperative compared to the items(Red Card and Reset Stamp) which can be used in conjunction with Green’s Exploration.

Key Exclusions:
For the following cards, I want to discuss why I exclude them in the deck with an emphasis on cards typically found in standard Lightning Spread decks.

Collateral Bolts Raichu: It's hard to set up another attacker and Raichu is ineffective without previous spread. I would rather keep Electivire alive longer than spend deck slots building another attacker.

Teraspark Regieleki: Like Raichu, Regieleki is typically found in Lightning Spread lists. However, similar to my reasoning for Raichu, it is hard to set up another attacker, nonetheless an attacker that requires discarding energy. I think Regieleki shines more with the Dynamotor engine which can effectively recharge Regieleki.

Dual Brains Magnezone: Magnezone seems like a win-more card because most of the time, the initial Magneton can win the game. Even when set up, most of the supporters are used in the initial Call Signal, so I rarely get to use 2 supporters per turn afterwards. Also, to function effectively, Magnezone introduces additional deck slots(Magnezone, Rare Candy, Night stretcher) that are hard to fit.

Teammates/Raihan: Teammates and Raihan are very reactive cards. In addition, you aggressively give your opponent prizes, so the opportunities to use these cards decreases a lot. As such, I find it hard to dedicate space in the deck for Teammates compared to other GLC decks.

TM Devo: Similar to Raichu, I want to keep my Electivire alive longer through Luxurious Cape and disruption. I believe an extra High-Voltage Current is better than Devolution and saves a deck slot.

Escape Rope(and similar pivots): The reason the deck does not run a lot of pivots is because 2/7 have free retreat and 2/7 KO themselves to remove themself from the active. That leaves the Luxray line and Zebstrika line which both have 1 retreat and can retreat with U-Turn Board. Lastly, although Electivire has 3 retreat, it is the main attacker and you most likely would want him in the active. As such, I have not found Escape Rope necessary

Thunderous Assault Zapdos: This card scams wins for Lightning with the donk potential. Although it’s nice to steal wins with Zapdos, I believe if the opponent has a slow start that would allow a Zapdos donk, the additional turn with disruption from the Bombs can just as easily convert the win. The best cards for setting up a Zapdos donk can also set up the Bombs. As such, I decided to cut Zapdos to fit more cards to facilitate setting up.

Key Considerations:
For the following cards, I wanted to discuss what I’ve considered playing, and why I may not currently include them in my list. I believe these cards are definitely worth considering depending on your local meta and personal playstyle.

70HP PAL Voltorb: I did not have access to this during the tournament, but it is worth noting it exists. It’s definitely a tradeoff with the Thunder Wave Voltorb as both Voltorbs will be KO’d by a Solrock, but at least Thunder Wave has a coinflip to stall 1 turn. Meanwhile, the 70hp Voltorb can survive Raging Bolt with 2 energies and/or Ting-Lu’s Ground Crasher attack.

Morpeko: For non-Pichu fans, Morpeko can serve a similar role of buying time during slower starts. It’s hard to deny the effectiveness of Torment and the utility of Spark. However, the deck runs minimal energies to attack with just Electivire and Luxray. Attaching energies to Morpeko would strain your energies to attack and retreat.

Ball Guy/Trainer’s Mail/More Consistency Cards: I initially had these cards in the deck prior to the addition of Hilda and Xerosic. With the upcoming set, I am excited to try out Canari, which can hopefully provide more consistency for the deck.

Pokemon League Headquarters(League HQ): I understand Artazon is not a very powerful or fun card in the deck. However, Artazon can help the deck set up if Stormy Mountain is prized. League HQ is worth a consideration as a replacement for Artazon for aggressive decks with Basic Attackers. Given the deck revolves around Electivire and Luxray, League HQ should adversely affect the opponent more.

Electropower: Electropower is one of Lightning’s most powerful type-specific support cards. That being said, the Lightning Bombs deck tries to take multiple KOs together before disabling the “comeback” cards. I have not found enough situations where I need an immediate knockout from an additional 30 damage to warrant the inclusion of Electropower. Instead, I’ve opted for more consistency in the deck through set up cards.

Closing Thoughts
Thank you for taking the time to read through my insights on this Lightning GLC deck in the GLC meta where Lightning has taken a backseat. I want to give thanks to the Bay Area GLC community for enduring through my disruptive gameplay and EZ Pokepals for introducing me to GLC and supporting my journey for creating this deck.
Lightning Bombs is a challenging deck with intricate lines spawning from Magneton. With the unique bomb’s engine, you are able to aggressively pressure your opponent, demanding immediate answers. Through the power of High-Voltage Current and/or Wild Charge, you can easily win before your opponent is able to set up. I’ve played variations of this deck for over a year before finally seeing success. Hopefully my insights can help you enjoy the deck to the fullest and find success quicker than me.
If you have any questions, or would like to share your experiences or suggestions, please message me @chknfried on Discord. I’d love to hear from you! For now, hope you enjoy this GLC deck with some chicken fried with a cold beer on a Friday night.