I've been looking around and waiting for someone, somewhere on the internet, to talk about using Aromatisse to make Darkrai / Malamar viable, but I fear I will be bones before that happens so I had to finally register here (have been lurking for a good while) so I could post the deck I'm working on!
Pokemon (17):
Trainers (31):
Energy (12):
The biggest question this deck faces is whether it does anything that a more straightforward Darkrai EX / Malamar EX / Aromatisse deck wouldn't do better. I really am quite surprised this is the closest thing to that deck I've seen on the internet because it seems obvious. Malamar's Hyper Hypnosis is a very easy, reliable, no-hassle way to put your enemy to sleep for Darkrai's Dark Head, and Aromatisse allows you still to be able to put your energy to good use after you attach them to Malamar. Obviously BKP Darkrai hasn't been played enough yet, but I speculate that this is a better use of it than Zoroark or Hypno + All Night Party because it requires less to go right (fewer cards involved) and offers less to go wrong (as long as you have an energy to attach, you're good to go).
So, yes, I am very interested in pure Darkrai EX /Malamar EX / Aromatisse, but I included Mega Diancie EX here because, well, I really like it. And by that I mean both that it's a pokemon I'm rather fond of because it's pretty and that I find the actual card very interesting and feel like it's underplayed in fairy decks. It can create major frustration for your opponent if they're playing an EX-reliant deck because they can't do anything to you at all without Lysandre. That does mean Lysandre is a card you're going to want to watch out for here, but that's already true in fairy decks because Aromatisse always needs to be out and is always vulnerable. The more significant setback is that it's a Promo card with no Spirit Link. However, putting it in this deck with Malamar EX makes that a little easier to deal with -- if you can get Malamar out early enough, you can give yourself a 50% chance of safety, which might give you a window to freely give up an attack. If you do end up taking a hit, Mega Diancie does have disappointingly low HP for a Mega pokemon, but 190 is at least enough that there is very little that can take it down in one hit in the earlier turns of the game... and Max Potion is back!
I'm mostly worried here about the fact that this is a "2 things" deck -- Darkrai AND Diancie -- in a world where almost all other competitive lists are decidedly "1 thing" deck. The only "2 things" deck people actually use that comes to mind is Giratina EX / Tyrantrum EX with Bronzong. This one is a very technical deck with quite a few low-count cards that doesn't even run more than two of any of its main attackers. That's weird, and I still think it has potential, but it is weird and potentially very inconsistent. I'm trying to play cards here that allow you to put out everything you need within your first few turns even if that happens in a different way every time.
Fairies are still slow. Hopefully the sleep here helps buy time, though.
I welcome people's thoughts on this, especially on trainer card choices, which I'm still a little unclear on. This deck is doing multiple new things my old fairy deck featuring Mega Diancie wasn't doing... in addition to incorporating Darkrai EX, I've also tossed in a Manaphy EX since that exists now and allows me the freedom to drop Fairy Garden for other stadiums... but I don't actually know for sure what I want those stadiums to be!
Pokemon (17):
- 2 Spritzee
- 2 Aromatisse (XY 93)
- 2 Xerneas (XY 96)
- 2 Diancie EX (PR XY43)
- 2 Mega Diancie EX (PR XY44)
- 2 Darkrai EX (BKP 74)
- 1 Malamar EX (PHF 58)
- 1 Hoopa EX (AOR 36)
- 1 Manaphy EX (BKP 32)
- 2 Shaymin EX (ROS 77)
Trainers (31):
- 2 Mega Turbo
- 2 Muscle Band
- 3 Ultra Ball
- 4 VS Seeker
- 3 Max Potion
- 2 Battle Compressor
- 1 Town Map
- 1 Sacred Ash
- 2 Sky Field
- 1 Parallel City
- 2 Lysandre
- 3 Professor Sycamore
- 1 Shauna
- 1 Hex Maniac
- 1 AZ
- 1 Pokemon Fan Club
- 1 Teammates
Energy (12):
- 4 Rainbow Energy
- 8 Fairy Energy
Spritzee: You need this to get Aromatisse, that's all. So. It doesn't really matter which one you use.
Aromatisse: It's a fairy deck.
Xerneas: Nice energy acceleration if you can put one up in the first few turns, and its damage attack isn't awful in a pinch.
Diancie EX: This will most likely be used just to get Mega Diancie EX, but if you're not facing an EX deck its attack is actually better than Mega Diancie's.
Mega Diancie EX: Be untouchable and chip away. With a Muscle Band you should be able to 2hit anything and can 1hit at least a Shaymin-EX if you Lysandre one up. That's not nothing. Otherwise it doesn't really matter that you can't 1hit things because without Lysandre your opponent can't do anything to you at all. If you're not going against an EX deck, though, you're probably not going to play this.
Darkrai EX: Hit for 180 on a sleeping pokemon with Muscle Band, and the 160 without is still very, very nice for 3 energy.
Malamar EX: Partner for Darkrai and potentially just really, really annoying for your opponent all around. Get it & Aromatisse out early enough and you can use your regular energy attach here for sleep every single turn and then more the energy to somewhere you'd actually want it. Or leave it. Malamar's actual attack doesn't suck if you run out of all your better options.
Hoopa EX: This is going to be crucial for getting all the support EX cards this deck relies on. There are potential workarounds if it gets prized, but generally this needs to get dropped very early.
Manaphy EX: Running this with Rainbow Energy allows more options for stadiums than fairy decks usually have.
Shaymin EX: It still exists.
Mega Turbo: One nice thing about running a Mega pokemon in a fairy deck is that lets you play this for energy acceleration, and the energy doesn't even have to go on Mega Diancie because you have Aromatisse to put it wherever you want!
Muscle Band: Fighting Fury Belt is a thing now, but since it's not useful on Mega Diancie and there's definitely a handful of EX cards out there Darkrai won't be able to 1hit with the +10 Fighting Fury Belt grants, I've opted for Muscle Band here.
Ultra Ball: This deck requires you to have several Pokemon out for it to work, so you're gonna need these.
VS Seeker: Particularly nice here because it permits lower counts on supporter cards, and space is very tight in this deck.
Max Potion: As long as you have Aromatisse out, you can fully heal a pokemon without discarding any energy. Useful even without anything super tanky happening here -- decks like Mega Manectric that don't exactly count on 1hits are still being played.
Battle Compressor: A, you want to get all those 1-of supporters you want in the discard for VS Seeker; B, you can toss energy for Mega Turbo later; C, you can get Mega Diancie out of the way if you're not facing an EX deck.
Town Map: Lots of low counts so it's going to be important to see what's prized.
Sacred Ash: Unfortunately due to the variety of pokemon needed you don't get to include many of each. This is going to be critical for saving Malamar and Manaphy if they get Lysandred.
Sky Field: You need a lot of pokemon; if you can have 8 on your bench, you'll be a lot more comfortable.
Parallel City: Inconvenience your opponent so you can keep going with your master plan; since you have Manaphy, having a stadium to help yourself out isn't an absolute need.
Lysandre: This is nice to get more impact and control out of Mega Diancie.
Professor Sycamore: Draw cards. You'll need cards.
Shauna: It's nice to have at least one option for new cards that doesn't require you to dump your hand. I know a lot of people prefer Professor Birch's Observations since the average new hand is slightly better than what you get with Shauna, but more inconsistency is not something this deck needs.
Hex Maniac: It's Hex Maniac.
AZ: Mostly for lifting your Shaymins, but you might want it for other pokemon you left in danger as well.
Pokemon Fan Club: Playing this early enough is an easy way to get e.g. Hoopa & Spritzee and be in a pretty good place to get the rest of your game rolling.
Teammates: My favorite support card. Having two of exactly the cards you need is never something you'd say no to. Also the full art is like the gayest thing in Pokemon TCG right now. I know where my priorities are.
Rainbow Energy: Having one of these is necessary to use Darkrai's attach and to make Manaphy's ability work. This is an important card... possibly too important in a deck that provides no way to get it back. The good news though is that you only need one out at a time, strictly speaking.
Fairy Energy: You could potentially swap out one or two for a Wonder Energy, but the small benefit of those might not be worth sacrificing the privilege of taking them with Mega Turbo or Xerneas's Geomancy.
Aromatisse: It's a fairy deck.
Xerneas: Nice energy acceleration if you can put one up in the first few turns, and its damage attack isn't awful in a pinch.
Diancie EX: This will most likely be used just to get Mega Diancie EX, but if you're not facing an EX deck its attack is actually better than Mega Diancie's.
Mega Diancie EX: Be untouchable and chip away. With a Muscle Band you should be able to 2hit anything and can 1hit at least a Shaymin-EX if you Lysandre one up. That's not nothing. Otherwise it doesn't really matter that you can't 1hit things because without Lysandre your opponent can't do anything to you at all. If you're not going against an EX deck, though, you're probably not going to play this.
Darkrai EX: Hit for 180 on a sleeping pokemon with Muscle Band, and the 160 without is still very, very nice for 3 energy.
Malamar EX: Partner for Darkrai and potentially just really, really annoying for your opponent all around. Get it & Aromatisse out early enough and you can use your regular energy attach here for sleep every single turn and then more the energy to somewhere you'd actually want it. Or leave it. Malamar's actual attack doesn't suck if you run out of all your better options.
Hoopa EX: This is going to be crucial for getting all the support EX cards this deck relies on. There are potential workarounds if it gets prized, but generally this needs to get dropped very early.
Manaphy EX: Running this with Rainbow Energy allows more options for stadiums than fairy decks usually have.
Shaymin EX: It still exists.
Mega Turbo: One nice thing about running a Mega pokemon in a fairy deck is that lets you play this for energy acceleration, and the energy doesn't even have to go on Mega Diancie because you have Aromatisse to put it wherever you want!
Muscle Band: Fighting Fury Belt is a thing now, but since it's not useful on Mega Diancie and there's definitely a handful of EX cards out there Darkrai won't be able to 1hit with the +10 Fighting Fury Belt grants, I've opted for Muscle Band here.
Ultra Ball: This deck requires you to have several Pokemon out for it to work, so you're gonna need these.
VS Seeker: Particularly nice here because it permits lower counts on supporter cards, and space is very tight in this deck.
Max Potion: As long as you have Aromatisse out, you can fully heal a pokemon without discarding any energy. Useful even without anything super tanky happening here -- decks like Mega Manectric that don't exactly count on 1hits are still being played.
Battle Compressor: A, you want to get all those 1-of supporters you want in the discard for VS Seeker; B, you can toss energy for Mega Turbo later; C, you can get Mega Diancie out of the way if you're not facing an EX deck.
Town Map: Lots of low counts so it's going to be important to see what's prized.
Sacred Ash: Unfortunately due to the variety of pokemon needed you don't get to include many of each. This is going to be critical for saving Malamar and Manaphy if they get Lysandred.
Sky Field: You need a lot of pokemon; if you can have 8 on your bench, you'll be a lot more comfortable.
Parallel City: Inconvenience your opponent so you can keep going with your master plan; since you have Manaphy, having a stadium to help yourself out isn't an absolute need.
Lysandre: This is nice to get more impact and control out of Mega Diancie.
Professor Sycamore: Draw cards. You'll need cards.
Shauna: It's nice to have at least one option for new cards that doesn't require you to dump your hand. I know a lot of people prefer Professor Birch's Observations since the average new hand is slightly better than what you get with Shauna, but more inconsistency is not something this deck needs.
Hex Maniac: It's Hex Maniac.
AZ: Mostly for lifting your Shaymins, but you might want it for other pokemon you left in danger as well.
Pokemon Fan Club: Playing this early enough is an easy way to get e.g. Hoopa & Spritzee and be in a pretty good place to get the rest of your game rolling.
Teammates: My favorite support card. Having two of exactly the cards you need is never something you'd say no to. Also the full art is like the gayest thing in Pokemon TCG right now. I know where my priorities are.
Rainbow Energy: Having one of these is necessary to use Darkrai's attach and to make Manaphy's ability work. This is an important card... possibly too important in a deck that provides no way to get it back. The good news though is that you only need one out at a time, strictly speaking.
Fairy Energy: You could potentially swap out one or two for a Wonder Energy, but the small benefit of those might not be worth sacrificing the privilege of taking them with Mega Turbo or Xerneas's Geomancy.
The biggest question this deck faces is whether it does anything that a more straightforward Darkrai EX / Malamar EX / Aromatisse deck wouldn't do better. I really am quite surprised this is the closest thing to that deck I've seen on the internet because it seems obvious. Malamar's Hyper Hypnosis is a very easy, reliable, no-hassle way to put your enemy to sleep for Darkrai's Dark Head, and Aromatisse allows you still to be able to put your energy to good use after you attach them to Malamar. Obviously BKP Darkrai hasn't been played enough yet, but I speculate that this is a better use of it than Zoroark or Hypno + All Night Party because it requires less to go right (fewer cards involved) and offers less to go wrong (as long as you have an energy to attach, you're good to go).
So, yes, I am very interested in pure Darkrai EX /Malamar EX / Aromatisse, but I included Mega Diancie EX here because, well, I really like it. And by that I mean both that it's a pokemon I'm rather fond of because it's pretty and that I find the actual card very interesting and feel like it's underplayed in fairy decks. It can create major frustration for your opponent if they're playing an EX-reliant deck because they can't do anything to you at all without Lysandre. That does mean Lysandre is a card you're going to want to watch out for here, but that's already true in fairy decks because Aromatisse always needs to be out and is always vulnerable. The more significant setback is that it's a Promo card with no Spirit Link. However, putting it in this deck with Malamar EX makes that a little easier to deal with -- if you can get Malamar out early enough, you can give yourself a 50% chance of safety, which might give you a window to freely give up an attack. If you do end up taking a hit, Mega Diancie does have disappointingly low HP for a Mega pokemon, but 190 is at least enough that there is very little that can take it down in one hit in the earlier turns of the game... and Max Potion is back!
I'm mostly worried here about the fact that this is a "2 things" deck -- Darkrai AND Diancie -- in a world where almost all other competitive lists are decidedly "1 thing" deck. The only "2 things" deck people actually use that comes to mind is Giratina EX / Tyrantrum EX with Bronzong. This one is a very technical deck with quite a few low-count cards that doesn't even run more than two of any of its main attackers. That's weird, and I still think it has potential, but it is weird and potentially very inconsistent. I'm trying to play cards here that allow you to put out everything you need within your first few turns even if that happens in a different way every time.
Fairies are still slow. Hopefully the sleep here helps buy time, though.
I welcome people's thoughts on this, especially on trainer card choices, which I'm still a little unclear on. This deck is doing multiple new things my old fairy deck featuring Mega Diancie wasn't doing... in addition to incorporating Darkrai EX, I've also tossed in a Manaphy EX since that exists now and allows me the freedom to drop Fairy Garden for other stadiums... but I don't actually know for sure what I want those stadiums to be!
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