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Standard Darkrai EX/GX Deck Post Rotation

Pokemaster26

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Darkrai EX is already very good with max elixir and yveltal to accelerate energy, but as a lot of people already know, Darkrai GX is coming out and it is huge for Energy acceleration. This is the new Darkrai GX coming in Burning Shadows.

http://www.pokebeach.com/2017/03/tapu-fini-gx-and-darkrai-gx-from-sm2

This is the deck list I have come up with for Darkrai as of now, but it will likely not be my final list. Just wanted to start thinking more about it considering it has a good chance at becoming a very strong deck post rotation.


Pokemon: 12
4 Darkrai EX BPT
3 Darkrai GX BUS
3 Tapu Lele GX
2 Yveltal GEN

Supporters: 16
4 Professor Sycamore
4 N
2 Guzma
1 Skyla
2 Plumeria
1 Delinquent
1 Pokemon Ranger
1 Acerola

Items/Stadiums: 21
4 Ultra Ball
4 Max Elixir
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Wish Baton
2 Exp Share
2 Super Scoop Up
2 Field Blower

2 Altar of the Moone

Just wanted to start a thread at least involving this deck. I would be surprised if it doesn't win a regional at the least
 
Agree that 3 Darkrai GX may be too many - bearing in mind you'd need the bench space available to receive them back from the discard.

I think the counts of Wish Baton and EXP Share would be trial and error. Having Wish Baton on the active obviously means that FFB can't be there. Ideally, you'd have FFB on, then Field Blower it off to replace with Wish Baton as you about to get knocked out, but that is a bit convoluted.

What I'm also interested in is Darkrai-GX in a Hypno/Darkrai/GX 'sleep' deck and whether that could become playable.
 
Agree that 3 Darkrai GX may be too many - bearing in mind you'd need the bench space available to receive them back from the discard.

I think the counts of Wish Baton and EXP Share would be trial and error. Having Wish Baton on the active obviously means that FFB can't be there. Ideally, you'd have FFB on, then Field Blower it off to replace with Wish Baton as you about to get knocked out, but that is a bit convoluted.

What I'm also interested in is Darkrai-GX in a Hypno/Darkrai/GX 'sleep' deck and whether that could become playable.

The first deck variant that I think would be interesting to play is Darkrai / EX / GX. The new Darkrai that we're getting in burning shadows could be a really nice pair with the EX and GX because it puts the active to sleep. However, it is an attack so they could always switch out of it. Hypno's ability would work really well with Darkrai GX over Darkrai EX (although you could use it in a pinch), but I don't like that it's a stage two.
 
Hypno's ability would work really well with Darkrai GX over Darkrai EX (although you could use it in a pinch), but I don't like that it's a stage two.

Hypno is a Stage 1. Darkrai-GX only benefits from the sleep on it's GX attack, so using sleep with Darkrai-EX is better. I prefer Hypno over Darkrai (BUS) as, if the ability is playable, then it guarantees the full damage from Darkrai-EX Dark Head. Darkrai (BUS) is less reliable as, as you say, the Opp poke can be switched or wake up anyway. Ideally you put to sleep and attack on the same turn.

Darkrai-EX Dark Head would be the main attack, with Hypno, with Darkrai-GX GX attack as a surprise to KO (bit like Tauros can be used).
Darkrai-EX Dark Pulse and Darkrai-GX Dark Rift/Ability as back-up attacks if you can't get the Opp poke asleep. Poss include Darkrai (BUS) but not sure.
 
Agree that 3 Darkrai GX may be too many - bearing in mind you'd need the bench space available to receive them back from the discard.

I think the counts of Wish Baton and EXP Share would be trial and error. Having Wish Baton on the active obviously means that FFB can't be there. Ideally, you'd have FFB on, then Field Blower it off to replace with Wish Baton as you about to get knocked out, but that is a bit convoluted.

What I'm also interested in is Darkrai-GX in a Hypno/Darkrai/GX 'sleep' deck and whether that could become playable.
I believe Donald (Darkintegralgaming) did a pretty good video recently on a very viable Dark Head deck.
 
Darkrai GX could potentially make Ultra Ball amazing. Ultra Ball away Darkrai GX and energy. Get a Lele for Bridgette. Bridgette for pokes. Use Darkrai GX's ability for Darkrai and energy onto the bench.
 
I need a ruling on a play. Can I use a trainer card to discard my Darkrai GX (BUS) straight from my hand into my discard pile and then announce the 'Resurrection' ability from the dicard pile to move Darkai GX from the discard pile to my bench? I was taught that you must read the ability from pokémons either in your active position or from your bench. I never heard that we can read abilities from pokémon after they reach the discard pile.
 
Yes, you can do that.

If a pokemon has an ability that activates, the pokemon needs to be on your bench or in your active, unless the ability tells you something else. Resurrection requires darkrai gx be in the discard, so you can use it while in the discard.
 
3 Darkrai GX can be a bit too much since it HAS to be in the discard to use it, and although that isn't hard to do, having the bench space combined with that requirement makes the GX not nearly as good as anyone thought before playtesting. And believe me, I tried to make 4 work, but trying so hard to get all of your GX in the discard pile with the dark energy, AND still have a decent board setup without using more than 1-2 of your bench space hurts WAY more than it helps. Keep in mind all of the turns you're setting up trying to get Darkrai GX in the discard pile with the energy, and you're attacking with Dark Pulse for about 80-110, you could be using Oblivion Wing to set up more energy. Darkrai GX isn't very good, but it's Ability is good enough to be a 2-of in Turbo Dark, since it can help you hit numbers in tight spots. It's also a great EXP.Share target, since you virtually never attack with it, so you never need to waste an EXP.Share on an EX instead of a Fury Belt/ Choice Band. Wish Baton is not a good card, period. It got extremely nerfed from the japanese translations to where you can only transfer up to 3 Basic energy to you bench, whereas, in the japanese translations, it was any, and all energy from the active to your bench. In the worlds format, Wish Baton is at best, a decent one-of in Turbo Dark. Post-rotation, play 4 EXP.Share. Although I don't like Fury Belts, that part is preference, but I'll tell you why I don't like them. Field Blower exists, you STILL get KO'd at, more or less, the same pace. It takes away 20 damage that Choice Band would give you. Post-rotation, 250 is the magic number to hit since Gardevoir has 230 HP and resistance to Dark, and Metagross has 250 HP. Super Scoop Up is only good if you play 4, and only in certain decks. In decks like Darkrai, you NEED to keep your energy in play, and the fact that Scoop Up takes 4 copies in the deck to use it to its' best extent, it just isn't worth playing in Darkrai. If you really want that kind of effect, just play 1-2 Acerola, but it's not something I recommend, because of my next point.

VS Seeker rotates, which means gimmicky supporters like Kukui, Flare Grunt, Plumeria, Acerola, Center Lady, etc. will lose a LOT of power since you can't get them when you need them, which defeats the purpose of playing those cards. The only reason Fan Club/ Brigette will survive this is because they're T1 supporters, which means they're a one-time use anyway. Hypno has never, and will never be, a good card. Donald is not the best source for TCG information, since he plays casual. And he KNOWS this. Stick to sources like the Charizard Lounge, Team Fish Knuckles, or TrainerChip. There's more but those are some of the best sources for competitive info. I actually don't see Darkrai winning anything, since the post-rotation meta will be naturally built to stop decks like this. It actually saddens me, since I really want Darkrai to do well(I'm actually playing post-rotation Darkrai already), but it's something inevitable to happen. It might do well in the first couple months of rotation, but it's not likely to survive long after that.
 
No Sophocles, this is the ONE deck that can use him, use him discard GX + Energy and draw 4 it's insane in this deck
 
How many hands are you going to have where you have gx and an energy in your hand, and you can't just use sycamore to draw 7 instead?
 
So, are we saying something like:

-1 Darkrai-GX
-3 Fighting Fury Belt
+3 Choice Band
-1/2 Wish Baton
+1 Exp Share
-2 Super Scoop Up
+1 Altar of the Moone
+1 Brigette
 
The aforementioned recommended Team Fish Knuckles take on TD:

3 Darkrai EX
1 Darkrai GX
2 Tapu Lele GX
3 Yveltal
1-1 Garbodor (Toxin)

4 Sycamore
2 Lysandre
1 Guzma
2 N
1 Sophocles
1 Hex Maniac

4 Max Elixir
4 Ultra Ball
4 Exp Share
4 Choice Band
1 Field Blower
3 VS Seeker
4 Altar of the Moone

14 Dark Energy
 
Brigette would not be a good idea for this deck. Darkrai EX is an EX, so Brigette would only be able to grab 1 of these, and Lele/ Darkrai GX need to be in your hand/ discard pile to use their abilities respectively.
 
No Sophocles, this is the ONE deck that can use him, use him discard GX + Energy and draw 4 it's insane in this deck
Most people would assume this is a good idea, You would need to start off with having the GX and Extra Energy in hand and assuming you have a good way to continue your turn after discarding 3 to + 1 card and using your supporter per turn just to get 1 Pokemon onto the bench with a energy to accelerate 1 more energy. Not only that but you end up having 3-4 Other cards in your hand which need to be the correct cards for you to have the best turn possible. where as you could of played sycamore to get a more progressive hand. Sophocles is a very situational card and most cases it's not worth it since Turbo dark needs to go as fast as possible to get in the late game position where it excels at.
 
Most people would assume this is a good idea, You would need to start off with having the GX and Extra Energy in hand and assuming you have a good way to continue your turn after discarding 3 to + 1 card and using your supporter per turn just to get 1 Pokemon onto the bench with a energy to accelerate 1 more energy. Not only that but you end up having 3-4 Other cards in your hand which need to be the correct cards for you to have the best turn possible. where as you could of played sycamore to get a more progressive hand. Sophocles is a very situational card and most cases it's not worth it since Turbo dark needs to go as fast as possible to get in the late game position where it excels at.
Although this is true, I agree that Turbo Dark should be playing Sophocles. Yeah, it's situational, but in those situations it is better than draw-passing. I use 2 Sophocles in my post-rotation Turbo Dark list, but only because I can't play 5-6 Sycamore or 5-6 N. I play 4 N and 4 Sycamore, as well as 3 Lele and an Oranguru, but I still find myself dead drawing. Although Turbo Dark gains a couple new cards, it loses WAY more than it gains. It's more like it loses a piece of the concept, rather than actual cards. The post-rotation is a lot different than the February meta, so I can't just Silent Lab and play down EXP.Shares and win the game. Field Blower is honestly the reason Turbo Dark isn't NEARLY as good as it was.
 
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