With the new Pokémon Pocket set Space-Time Smackdown, there are more ways to deal incidental chunks of damage to your opponents’ Pokémon than ever, and this up-and-coming Darkrai deck makes use of almost all of them.
This deck doesn’t have any major tournament wins yet, but judging by competitive rankings it has clear promise, showing up in the top 10 time and time again. As TCG decks go, this one is exactly my kind of annoying, so I just had to write about it.
The deck excels in chipping away at enemy Pokémon’s HP, using three Pokémon to make your opponent’s life as miserable as possible.
First of all, of course, you have the ultimate tank Druddigon, and naturally, this deck packs Rocky Helmets to make it even more painful to take the dragon down. Then you have an old favorite, Greninja, whose Water Shuriken ability can reach the bench and is always good for softening up an easy target. And finally, you have Darkrai Ex, which blasts the enemy active Pokémon for 20 damage each time you attach energy to it.
It’s worth noting that this deck only runs darkness energy. This means Darkrai (or perhaps Frogadier in certain circumstances) is your only viable attacker, but with so many sources of chip damage, you may not even need to use a move in the first place. Under ideal conditions, you can deal 80 damage per turn cycle without ever clicking attack.
Of course, just because you’re able to dish out so much extra damage, doesn’t mean you have to rely on that. Darkrai’s 80 power attack will often be useful for dealing with a weakened Pokémon and securing you the win. The ability to put damage anywhere obviously makes Cyrus fantastic in this deck, as you can pull in damaged monsters for an instant-KO.
While it’s pulling in pretty good results, so far this deck is yet to win any major tournaments. Right now we’re seeing loads of different decks vying for the top spot in the current meta. Most of these involve the best Space-Time Smackdown cards, from Yanmega Ex to Magnezone. But Celebi Ex is still seeing surprisingly good results.
For more Pokémon TCG content, check out our guides to the most expensive rare Pokémon cards, or the newest Pokémon set.
Source: Wargamer
