Hey Y'all! We've gotten all the cards for the November set, Vivid Voltage, and the biggest shock, no pun intended, is that we might have an actually viable Water type deck! As someone who hates Welder and the absolute dominance it has allowed Fire type decks to have it's refreshing to see a competitor to challenge its reign, and no, I'm not talking about Cromorant/Barraskewda, even though that's a really funny deck in concept, since it's only really good against Fire decks. Today, I present my Day 1 concept list for the new big boy on the block, Galarian Darmanitan VMAX!
Pokemon (16)
Trainer (31)
Energy (13):
Here's the rundown: Darmanitan does 200 to the active and 30 to each opposing bench, but you can boost both those numbers by 30 using Altered Creation and Telephoto Scope respectively, meaning your first attack is 2HKOing VMAX and taking an extra prize, while doing 120 chip damage to everything on the bench, meaning you can KO their next active pokemon and Win the game. The absolutely monstrous damage this thing can output is mind-boggling, and as someone who considers going against it, I'm incredibly thankful that Altered Creation only enables the extra prize on the Active pokemon, otherwise this would be the combo to actually get it Banned.
How do we enable this attack, with it's equally monstrous 4W energy cost? Simple; just use Frosmoth, which also gets a lot better this set. Wash Water Energy, of which we play a playset, prevents the Water pokemon it's attached to from all secondary effects of attacks aside from damage. Notably, this includes dropping damage counters, meaning that with a Special Water energy and UNB Mew, Frosmoth, or more importantly Snom, is invulnerable to attacks while on the bench. Using it and Capacious Bucket, You can fill your hand with Water Energy to charge a Benched Darm, or use Ultimate Ray on ADP, and then swap it in on turn 2 or 3 and Demolish.
Now obviously, this isn't perfect, since there's no way to guarantee T1 metal energy, and I'm thinking of swapping the Leon for a Piers or Guzma and Hala for that reason, but the sheer potential output of this thing is absolutely insane, and could definitely stand as a deck to watch out for in November.
Pokemon (16)
- G. Darmanitan V (3)
Galarian Darmanitan V – Water – HP220
Basic Pokemon
[W][C] Frozen Headbutt: 50 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Paralyzed.
[W][W][C] Freezing Fist: 190 damage. This Pokémon does 30 damage to itself.
When your Pokemon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Metal (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
Basic Pokemon
[W][C] Frozen Headbutt: 50 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Paralyzed.
[W][W][C] Freezing Fist: 190 damage. This Pokémon does 30 damage to itself.
When your Pokemon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Metal (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2
- G. Darmanitan VMAX (3)
Galarian Darmanitan VMAX – Water – HP320
VMAX Pokemon – Evolves from Galarian Darmanitan V
[W][W][W][W] Max Snowfall: 200 damage. This attack also does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon.)
When your Pokemon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
Weakness: Metal (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3
VMAX Pokemon – Evolves from Galarian Darmanitan V
[W][W][W][W] Max Snowfall: 200 damage. This attack also does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon.)
When your Pokemon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.
Weakness: Metal (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3
- ADP (2)
- Snom (2)
- Frosmoth (2)
- Mew UNB (1)
- Crobat V (2)
- Dedenne GX (1)
Trainer (31)
- Professors Research (4)
- Nessa (2)
Nessa – Trainer
Supporter
Chose up to 4 in any combination of [W] Pokemon and [W] Energy from your discard pile and put them into your hand.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).
Supporter
Chose up to 4 in any combination of [W] Pokemon and [W] Energy from your discard pile and put them into your hand.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).
- Boss’ Orders (3)
- Leon (1)
Leon – Trainer
Supporter
During this turn, your Pokemon’s attacks do 30 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).
Supporter
During this turn, your Pokemon’s attacks do 30 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn (before your attack).
- Marnie (3)
- Telephoto Scope (3)
Telephoto Scope – Trainer
Item
Pokemon Tool: Attach a Pokemon Tool to 1 of your Pokemon that doesn’t already have a Pokemon Tool attached to it.
The attacks of the Pokemon this card is attached to do 30 more damage to your opponent’s Benched Pokemon V and GX.
You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn (before your attack).
Item
Pokemon Tool: Attach a Pokemon Tool to 1 of your Pokemon that doesn’t already have a Pokemon Tool attached to it.
The attacks of the Pokemon this card is attached to do 30 more damage to your opponent’s Benched Pokemon V and GX.
You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn (before your attack).
- Pokemon Communication (4)
- Quick Ball (4)
- Switch (4)
- Capacious Bucket (3)
Energy (13):
- Wash Water (4)
Wash Water Energy – Special Energy
As long as this card is attached to a Pokemon, it provides 1 [W] Energy.
Prevent all effects of attacks from your opponent’s Pokémon done to the [W] Pokemon this card is attached to. (Existing effects are not removed. Damage is not an effect.)
As long as this card is attached to a Pokemon, it provides 1 [W] Energy.
Prevent all effects of attacks from your opponent’s Pokémon done to the [W] Pokemon this card is attached to. (Existing effects are not removed. Damage is not an effect.)
- Aurora (2)
- Water (7)
Here's the rundown: Darmanitan does 200 to the active and 30 to each opposing bench, but you can boost both those numbers by 30 using Altered Creation and Telephoto Scope respectively, meaning your first attack is 2HKOing VMAX and taking an extra prize, while doing 120 chip damage to everything on the bench, meaning you can KO their next active pokemon and Win the game. The absolutely monstrous damage this thing can output is mind-boggling, and as someone who considers going against it, I'm incredibly thankful that Altered Creation only enables the extra prize on the Active pokemon, otherwise this would be the combo to actually get it Banned.
How do we enable this attack, with it's equally monstrous 4W energy cost? Simple; just use Frosmoth, which also gets a lot better this set. Wash Water Energy, of which we play a playset, prevents the Water pokemon it's attached to from all secondary effects of attacks aside from damage. Notably, this includes dropping damage counters, meaning that with a Special Water energy and UNB Mew, Frosmoth, or more importantly Snom, is invulnerable to attacks while on the bench. Using it and Capacious Bucket, You can fill your hand with Water Energy to charge a Benched Darm, or use Ultimate Ray on ADP, and then swap it in on turn 2 or 3 and Demolish.
Now obviously, this isn't perfect, since there's no way to guarantee T1 metal energy, and I'm thinking of swapping the Leon for a Piers or Guzma and Hala for that reason, but the sheer potential output of this thing is absolutely insane, and could definitely stand as a deck to watch out for in November.