Zekeel against Darkrai

T

tc19930815

Aspiring Member
Member
Hey guys~

I am currently playing Zekeel and found myself having no chance against Darkrai ex. Can anyone suggest me any way out except Terrakion? this is because consistency is highly concerned as well.

My techs:
1 Bouffalant
1 Tornadus ex
2 Mewtwo ex
1 Tyrogue
1 Zekrom ex

no Thundurus
 
Switch to all 40 HP Tynamo and use Zekrom w/ Eviolite.
Terrakion stinks in Zeels. It soils consistancy!
SOILS IT

SOILS IT

SOILS IT

SOILS IT

SOILS IT
 
Being a Darkrai player myself, I find that a Zekeels deck with all 40 hp Tynamo gives Darkrai some problems as it cannot KO them with a night spear. Terrakion can be KOd before you can get the prisms so it doesn't help as much as you'd think. Also, playing eviolite on your EXs prevents them from being KOd by Darkrai as easily. I hope this helps!
 
You should also take out Tyrogue for the same reason as the 30 HP Tynamos. I suggest you put in a Thundurus for it, or maybe even a Raikou-EX.
 
As everyone has said, increase your eviolites to about 3 (my personal preference regardless of Darkrai) and only play one 30 hp Tynamo max. Make sure you have 2 Sky arrow bridge for that draw back and finally, no baby pokemon.
 
Truthfully, it's going to be a hard matchup no matter what.

The best way to beat it is simply to be more consistent and hammer away at Darkrais with Zekrom until they die. Try to avoid dropping too many EX's because getting up on prizes is very important in that matchup.

Also, as everyone else said, use only 40hp Tynamos with Skyarrow Bridge and take out Tyrogue (it get's KO'd waaaayyyyy to easily by Darkrai). Smeargle might also help with consistency, which is the main way to beat Darkrai.
 
I don't know if you need Terrakion or not. I've played both versions of the deck and Terrakion hurts consistency a considerable amount. Also, it's annoying to have to rely on switch to retreat Catchered up Eels since you replaced DCE with fighting. IMO the best way to beat Darkrai is with a constant stream of attackers to 2HKO Darkrais, like Zekrom and Thundurus. Eviolite on Zekrom is really good and wins games. Without it, they OHKO Zekrom after a Bolt Strike, while spreading to the bench, so they get an extra prize every 2/3 turns, not even factoring in the possible EX.
 
i feel that tyrogue i s bad tech because all you need is a catcher on eel or something with 90 hp or less and they get an easy 2 prizes. I would keep the zekrom ex and tornadus ex because they are easy to set up, and just support other attackers in their energy discard ability. As for bouffalant im not sure if you should keep this in, i guess it all comes down to play testing. All i can say is change your deck around during play testing, to see how your deck does with certain cards compared to others. Hope i helped =)
 
Zapdos or Raikou EX can help.

This way, if you hit a Darkrai with Bolt Strike for 120 (or 130 with a pluspower) and they try to free retreat out of it, rather than waiting for a catcher you can just snipe them down. Also, More Eviolites will help a lot, but they can't do it all by themselves. Otherwise Terrakion is your best bet.
 
Don't go Terrakion. It poops on consistency. I just spam Zekrom to 2HKO it. Also if you add in an extra Eviolite, that Zekrom can 2HKO all on its own. Also, if you can get enough Energy on the field and desperate, you can move all of them over to a Mewtwo (via Shaymin), and start a Mewtwo war. It takes 7 Energy to 1HKO an un-Eviolited Darkrai. I won some games like that, because they discarded all of their Mewtwo with Junk Arm. If you know they don't run Mewtwo or can't get one out, you just took 4 Prizes.

Don't rely on that though, its not easy to do. Just try to run it into the ground with a constant stream of attackers. The biggest advantage you have over Darkrai is that ZekEels locks down its usual parter Tornadus EX, so they have to rely on Dark Patch and manual attachments to charge up a 3 Energy Attacker while you can do it almost instantly. Try to remove their Energy from the field and they are in trouble. Also, usually they will run a Smeargle or two, so if you Catcher Kill those early it severely stunts their setup.

EDIT: I forgot this, but also a Zekrom EX also helps alot. Darkrai 3HKO's it with an Eviolite, while Zekrom EX can 2HKO it, and put a large dent in the next one that shows up.
 
I feel like running Zekrom-EX warrants more Switch in the deck just to get it running again. :T

Anyway, I think one of the biggest boons will be Smeargle. I know I wish I'd had it.
 
Zekrom EX is wonderful. I run two Switch and two Skyarrow and it is good enough. I bring him out late game, and he just cleans up the mess my other Zekroms have made. Eviolite Zekky EX, and your opponent needs three turns to KO this beast.

I also like to use a Thundurus start against Darkrai because even a quick 80 drops a huge dent in Darkrai. (One hit from Bolt Strike and you're good!) Plus, you can recycle that Energy. You're gonna need speed, no matter what. As long as you draw first blood, you should be ok. Darkrai is not an easy matchup, but it is winnable.
 
thx guys for the ideas!!!!

now here is my pokemon line

3 Zekrom
1 Zekrom ex
1 Thundurus (not 2 because i am not guaranteed to get a thundurus start with 2 either way)
1 Smeargle
2 Mewtwo ex
1 Tornadus ex
4-3 Eelectrik (all 40 hp)

2 skyarrow bridge
1 switch
2 eviolite (cant find room for the 3rd one)

please tell me your ideas on such a line :D
 
tc19930815 said:
thx guys for the ideas!!!!

now here is my pokemon line

3 Zekrom
1 Zekrom ex
1 Thundurus (not 2 because i am not guaranteed to get a thundurus start with 2 either way)
1 Smeargle
2 Mewtwo ex
1 Tornadus ex
4-3 Eelectrik (all 40 hp)

2 skyarrow bridge
1 switch
2 eviolite (cant find room for the 3rd one)

please tell me your ideas on such a line :D
Click to expand...

if i were you i might consider dropping a mewtwo for a raikou because of the popularity of darkrai, mewtwo isnt going to do much against it so i would just keep it at one. And raikou is just to snipe off eels in the mirror, zoroark or darkrai in the early game.
 
If you find that you can't beat the best deck in the format, why not use a counter for it? If you are too stubborn to try Terrakion in the deck, there is no use in even running Zekeels anymore.
 
You have to use Terrakion. A lot of people think it ruins consistency, but it really doesn't if you do it right.
 
I played Gigas in my build yesterday and it worked out better than Terrakion did (although I wish I played Terrakion too :p ). If you put an Eviolite on Gigas, they'll have to 3HKO it. If you time things out right you should:

Turn #1 - Get Gigas with 3 energy + Eviolite and Gaia Hammer for 60.
Turn #2 - They attacked with 70 to it, so Raging Hammer for KO.
Turn #3 - They attacked again with Night Spear so Raging Hammer for 140.

(This is if they don't have Eviolite/Dark Claw attached)

Then by that time you should be setting things up for easy KOs on things like Smeargle/Shaymin/Sableye/Tornadus. Gigas IMO fits in better to the deck because you don't need to add any energy for it like you have to with Terrakion.
 
I gotta try Gigas! Thanks for the idea! I really don't want to have to mess with Energy lines because its horribly inconsistent. Now I just need something for Klinkang.
 
I have two different versions of the deck built, Terrakion and Zekrom EX. Obviously Terrakion has a better matchup against Darkrai when it works right, but it's very clunky. The Zekrom EX I really like. It runs 2 Zekrom EX and 2 SSU and you basically just take advantage of your huge HP in the late game, so that the only damage they end up doing is to your bench. Regigigas is also good in this version if you want, but I didn't include it yet because it has the same weakness, so I didn't really see the point.
 
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