Hello and welcome to another episode of Searching Standard, where each and every week I look for new, innovative decks for you to play in Standard. This week, I'm looking at a deck that was recently featured on the YouTube channel of LittleDarkFury. It features Copperajah ex PAL 150, a Pokemon with a powerful attack with a pretty big drawback. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Copperajah ex - Revisited
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
1 Archaludon ex 130
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex 141
3 Copperajah ex 150
4 Cufant 41
1 Duraludon 106
4 Munkidori 95
1 Squawkabilly ex 169
Trainers
4 Arven 186
2 Boss’s Orders 172
1 Crispin 133
1 Earthen Vessel 163
4 Energy Switch 173
2 Heavy Baton 151
2 Iono 185
3 Night Stretcher 61
4 Pokégear 3.0 186
1 Precious Trolley 185
3 Professor's Research 155
2 Technical Machine: Turbo Energize 179
4 Ultra Ball 196
Energy
4 Basic Darkness Energy
4 Basic Metal Energy
4 Basic Psychic Energy
Copperajah ex PAL 150 is a very tanky Pokemon, having 300 HP. This, plus its Bronze Body Ability, which reduces the amount of damage Copperajah ex PAL 150 takes from attacks by 30 damage, enables it to stick around even after taking a hit from most other Pokemon. Copperajah ex PAL 150 also has a good attack, Nosequake, that deals 260 damage. The drawback to this attack is that it also deals 30 damage to each of your Benched Pokemon. If only there were some way to turn this negative into something positive...
Oh yeah! There is! If Munkidori TWM 95 is your only Benched Pokemon, you can move that 30 damage from it to one of your opponent's Pokemon with the use of Munkidori TWM 95's Adrena-Brain Ability. This can allow you to Knock Out multiple Pokemon in the same turn, or to Knock Out pokemon with high HP totals a bit easier.
As far as backup attackers go, this deck has a couple of pretty nice ones. Archaludon ex SSP 130's Metal Defender attack deals 220 damage, plus makes Archaludon ex SSP 130 a little less vulnerable on the following turn. It also has the Assemble Alloy Ability which can help power up your team. Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141 makes for a great late game attacker, especially once your opponent has taken a few of their Prize cards. Thanks to its Seasoned Skill Ability, you'll be able to attack with its Blood Moon attack for less Energy. This can allow you to score a big Knock Out, potentially catching up in the race to take Prize cards.
The lone copy of Squawkabilly ex PAL 169 is included in this deck as a safeguard against drawing a bad opening hand. With its Squawk and Seize Ability, you can discard your hand during your first turn of the game in order to draw a new hand of 6 cards. If you don't get Squawkabilly ex PAL 169 in your opening hand of 7 cards, it's probably not a Pokemon you want to put on your Bench later on.
A pair of Technical Machine: Turbo Energize PAR 179 are included in this deck for their Turbo Energize attack which allows you to search your deck for up to 2 Basic Energy cards to attach to your Benched pokemon. Use this to power up attackers or to attach Darkness Energy to Munkidori TWM 95. Crispin SCR 133 helps power up a Pokemon super quickly, essentially allowing you to attach a pair of Basic Energy to one of your Pokemon, if you'd like. Earthen Vessel PAR 163 can be used to ensure that you have Basic Energy in your hand to attach to a Pokemon during your turn.
Continuing with cards that help with your Energy attachment, we have a pair of Heavy Baton TEF 151 cards. These can only be used if they are attached to Copperajah ex PAL 150, and they'll allow you to keep up to 3 Energy cards in play if your Copperajah ex PAL 150 is Knocked Out by damage from an opponent's attack. Energy Switch SVI 173 offers a way of moving Energy from one Pokemon to another, enabling you to quickly power up an attack. Night Stretcher SFA 61 can be used to return either a Pokemon or Basic Energy from your discard pile to your hand, allowing you to play that card again.
Playing Arven OBF 186 is a great way to be able to search your deck for a Pokemon Tool and Item card. It also allows you to reshuffle your deck if you had to put something important at the bottom of your deck after playing Iono PAL 185. There's also a trio of Professor's Research JTG 155 that you can play as a way of drawing new cards, cycling through your deck more quickly in search of what you need.
To find the Pokemon you need, this deck runs a pair of Trainer cards. Precious Trolley SSP 185 lets you search your deck for as many Basic Pokemon as you'd like to put onto your Bench, while Ultra Ball SVI 196 lets you search for any Pokemon, regardless of evolution. Both of these will be super helpful throughout the game.
The final pair of cards are very useful cards at various points throughout the game. Boss’s Orders PAL 172 can be played to allow you to choose whichever of your opponent's Pokemon you'd like to attack. Generally, you'll want to choose one that will give you multiple Prize cards when Knocked Out. Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186 can be extremely helpful in locating whichever Supporter you might need from the top 7 cards of your deck. There's a lot of great Supporters in this deck, and this can help you find any of them.
Wrapping Up
As long as you have a way to mitigate the collateral damage Copperajah ex PAL 150's Nosequake attack does, this deck should run smoothly. By making big attacks and moving the damage from your Benched Pokemon to your opponent's team, you can quickly Knock Out most opponents.
What do you think of this deck? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in the Pokemon TCG. I'll see you then!
- Mike Likes
