After having spent several years on the video game, I wanted to have some offline Pokemon competition after Worlds too. In Europe, we are still lacking a system with Regionals in the video game; the TCG, however, implemented those years ago. As we saw a lot of people playing the trading card game at worlds, Massi, Toasdt, and myself decided that we wanted to give it at least a try, and bought some cards in Vancouver, played with lent decks, and enjoyed it a lot.
Back in Germany, we modified our decks, and attended some tournaments. The deck list I want to share with you is a very basic Darkrai/Garbodor deck, and probably not very interesting to those of you who are already very familiar with the trading card game. I still wanted to post it, since I had a lot of fun playing with it, and because it is probably one of my better lists.
Pokémon – 10
3 Darkrai EX
3 Sableye DEX
2 Trubbish LTR
2 Garbodor LTR
Trainers – 41
4 Professor Juniper
4 N
2 Skyla
2 Random Receiver
3 Dark Patch
3 Ultra Ball
3 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Float Stone
3 Crushing Hammer
2 Dark Claw
2 Pokémon Catcher
2 Enhanced Hammer
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Super Rod
1 Switch
1 Max Potion
1 Energy Search
1 Computer Search
2 Virbank City Gym
Energy – 9
9 Darkness Energy
My general approach to this deck was to focus a lot on Sableye. The format played in the City Championship I used this deck in, was best of one Swiss with 30 minutes + 3 extra turns. I felt like I could afford to play a pretty slow version because of this format. I spent a lot of my time Junk Hunting for Hammers and other Item cards, while draining out the opponent. It is key to limit their resources while keep track of that, as you need to know when to stop Junk Hunting and to bring out your powered Darkrai from the bench.
I ran 3 Darkrai EX and 3 Sableye for consistency. 3 is the perfect number for both of them in my opionion, as you won’t have all three of one card prized, and therefore have decent chances to start with either of them. Sableye is of course the preferred starter, but with the turn 1 attacking rule change, it is not as necessary to get it out immediately when starting. Darkrai is, of course, a very strong attacker, while Sableye provides a lot of support.
A 2-2 line of Garbodor is standard, and also going for consistency as it is the thinnest line you can afford.
3 Crushing Hammer, 2 Enhanced Hammer
I decided to go with Hammertime because I haven’t tried it before, and contrary to the video game in which I detest the 50/50 flips Swagger gives, I liked how, as a weaker TCG player, I could use my luck to create good positions against stronger players. 2 Enhanced Hammer plus Sableye gives a very decent Plasma matchup, while the 3 Crushing Hammer help a ton against basically everything, if you are lucky with the flips.
Crushing Hammer is especially good in the Virizion/Genesect matchup as it might help to delay the first Emerald Slash, which will give a huge advantage.
Computer Search
I decided to go with Comp. Search as my ACE-Spec card as it provides the most consistency over cards like Gold Potion. Dowsing Machine is also a consistency card, but in testing I found myself in situations in which I needed to get the first Enhanced Hammer to stop my opponent from setting up, while also playing another supporter instead of Skyla. Being able to Junk Hunt for Comp. Search multiple times is just such a good way to always get the cards you need. Gold Potion is key in the matchup versus straight Darkrai, but I added in a single copy of Max Potion to regain health. It is of course not nearly as strong versus straight Darkrai as Gold Potion is, but I just liked Computer Search so much that I stuck with it.
3 Float Stone
In the post Catcher change era, it is no longer necessary to run 4 copies of this card. Since Garbodor blocks the effect of Dark Cloak, it is still a good card in this deck, though, as it helps getting off a T2 Night Spear, as well as adding the feature of being able to promote the Pokémon Float Stone is attached to. This gives more time to wait for another Dark Patch, or stuff like that. I had a lot of times when I attached Dark Claw to my Garbodor though, as that is not nearly as bad of a play due to the Catcher nerf as it would have been some months ago.
2 Pokémon Catcher
Due to its nerf, people say that this card should no longer be in this deck, and some of my opponents looked at me quite strangely after I played it. However, in testing I found that Catcher was still a very strong card to get the match going, and it helped me get a crucial turn when I took 4 prizes against a Genesect/Virizion deck. Solely for the look of my opponent when I played catcher and flipped heads, it was definitely worth to give this card a showing. People have stopped even thinking of the possibility of Catcher, so they did not care about the damage on their bench Pokémon at all, as long as a Night Spear snipe couldn’t KO them. With Lasers, Dark Claw, and the ability to play a destroying Catcher at the right time, I had the math on my side, and could plan my games with more information than my opponent.
All in all, I had a lot of fun at my TCG tournaments, and was able to get a Top16 and a Top8 finish! Since there is no good league close to me, my TCG adventure will come to a break for the moment. I had good conversations with some of Germany’s top players and encouraged some of them to test the video game too, which they promised me they would.
In case you haven't, you should definitely try the Pokémon TCG too, as it is very easy to learn and has some nice possible strategies. Creating a deck list and testing is a lot of fun, and was a great alternation to the video game for me!
- Markus
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