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 Avalugg CRI 24, who is capable of dealing 360 damage with an attack that requires only 1 Energy. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Avalugg 30-Energy
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
4 Avalugg 24
4 Bergmite 23
2 Kyogre 34
Trainers
2 Boss's Orders 114
2 Lana's Aid 155
4 Larry's Skill 115
2 Poké Pad 81
1 Precious Trolley 185
1 Surfing Beach 129
4 Team Rocket's Petrel 176
4 Team Rocket's Transceiver 178
Energy
30 Water Energy
By attacking with Avalugg CRI 24's Iceberg Breaker attack, you'll discard the top 6 cards of your deck and deal 60 damage for each Basic Water Energy card discarded this way. Since there are 30 Basic Water Energy cards in this deck, you'll often discard 4 or more Basic Water Energy cards when you use this attack, making it one of the most efficient attacks in the game.
With all of that Basic Water Energy going to your discard pile, it would be nice to have a way to move it back into your deck easily. Luckily, Kyogre MEG 34's Riptide attack was made for this. For a single Energy, this attack will deal 20 damage for each Basic Water Energy in your discard pile. Then, after dealing a ton of damage, you'll be able to shuffle all of those Energy cards back into your deck, where Avalugg CRI 24 can use them again.
In the event that attacking with Avalugg CRI 24's Iceberg Breaker attack forces you to discard some of your Pokémon, you can play Lana's Aid TWM 155 to return up to 3 of those Pokémon to your hand. You can also return Basic Energy cards if you need to, but it's often better to leave them in your discard pile for when you attack with Kyogre MEG 34's Riptide attack. Larry's Skill PRE 115 can be played to help set things up right away. It's also a great way to find Lana's Aid TWM 155, for when you need it. The ACE SPEC for this deck is Precious Trolley SSP 185, which can enable you to get all of the Basic Pokémon from your deck onto your Bench with ease.
To help facilitate the switching of Avalugg CRI 24 and Kyogre MEG 34, you'll want to get a copy of Surfing Beach MEG 129 into play. This will allow you to switch an Active Water Pokémon with a Benched Water Pokemon, once per turn. To help make the most of your attacks, you can use Boss's Orders MEG 114 to switch your opponent's Active Pokémon with one of their Benched Pokémon of your choosing. You'll want to try to choose a Pokémon you're sure to Knock Out if possible.
Playing Poké Pad POR 81 is a great way to find Avalugg CRI 24. Technically, you can find any Pokémon you need, but since you can find Basic Pokémon in other ways, unless you absolutely need to find a Basic Pokémon, you'll usually want to save this for finding Avalugg CRI 24. Team Rocket's Transceiver DRI 178 basically counts as a blank card in this deck. The only card you can find with it is Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176, so playing Team Rocket's Transceiver DRI 178 helps thin your deck a little bit. Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176 allows you to search your deck for any Trainer card, which can be very useful, especially since there's only one copy of Surfing Beach MEG 129 in the deck.
Wrapping Up
For a deck that's made up of 50% Energy cards, this deck can pack quite a punch. Remember to alternate between attacking with Avalugg CRI 24's Iceberg Breaker attack and Kyogre MEG 34's Riptide attack to ensure you are able to deal the maximum amount of damage consistently.
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
