Searching Standard: Beautifly and Dustox DeckHello 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 both Beautifly ASC 13 and Dustox ASC 15, who work surprisingly well together. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Beautifly and Dustox
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
3 Beautifly 13
3 Silcoon 12
3 Dustox 15
4 Wurmple 11
3 Cascoon 14
2 Dreepy 71
1 Budew 4
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex 141
2 Drakloak 129
1 Shaymin 10
Trainers
1 Air Balloon 181
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 184
1 Counter Catcher 160
1 Earthen Vessel 106
3 Iono 80
3 Forest of Vitality 188
4 Lillie's Determination 192
1 Night Stretcher 196
2 Professor's Research 125
4 Poké Pad 198
2 Super Rod 188
2 Boss's Orders 183
1 Brave Bangle 80
1 Giovanni's Charisma 161
1 Secret Box 163
Energy
6 Grass Energy
The main attacker for this deck is Beautifly ASC 13. Its Energy Straw attack has the potential to deal a lot of damage, when it works. This attack deals 80 damage for each Energy card you find in your opponent's hand. While you'll sometimes whiff with this attack, you'll at least leave with the knowledge of what is in their hand. However, there are some ways to help ensure that you'll find some Energy cards when their hand is revealed.
Dustox ASC 15 happens to be one of those ways. Its Boisterous Wind Ability lets you return an Energy attached to your opponent's Active Pokémon to their hand if you win a coin flip. Since you have a 50/50 chance of failing, you can hedge your bet a little by getting multiple copies of Dustox ASC 15 in play.
Budew PRE 4 and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141 are the other potential attackers for this deck. Budew PRE 4's Itchy Pollen attack is great in the early game, potentially keeping your opponent from playing any Item cards that can help accelerate their plans. Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141 is a great late-game attacker. Its Blood Moon attack can often be used for zero or very little Energy thanks to its Seasoned Skill Ability.
The remaining Pokémon in this deck are all useful due to having great Abilities. Shaymin DRI 10's Flower Curtain Ability protects your Benched Pokémon from taking any damage, provided that those Pokémon don't have a Rule Box. Drakloak TWM 129's Recon Directive Ability offers you a way to filter through your deck to find the cards you need right away, while putting less useful cards at the bottom of your deck.
Giovanni's Charisma MEW 161 is another way you can return an attached Energy from your opponent's Active Pokémon to their hand, plus it helps you accelerate your Energy attachment as well. Iono PAF 80 also has the potential to get a number of Energy cards into your opponent's hand, especially when your opponent hasn't taken many Prize cards. Alternatively, if your opponent only has a couple of Prize cards remaining, playing Iono PAF 80 can help reset their hand and slow down their momentum. The ACE SPEC for this deck, Secret Box TWM 163, is a great way to search your deck for some specific cards that can help you out, even if it has a hefty requirement of discarding 3 cards to play.
To help you find the Pokémon you need, you have Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184 and Poké Pad ASC 198. Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184 helps find Basic Pokémon from your deck, while Poké Pad ASC 198 can find any Pokémon as long as that Pokémon doesn't have a Rule Box. Since this deck relies on Stage 2 Pokémon, you'll want to get a copy of Forest of Vitality ASC 188 into play early on, allowing you to Evolve your Grass Type Pokémon right away, during the turn they are played (except for the first turn of the game).
Earthen Vessel PRE 106 is typically found in a lot of decks to help find Basic Energy cards. Air Balloon ASC 181 is also found in many Standard decks as a way to offer your Pokémon an opportunity to move from your Active Spot to your Bench without having to discard Energy to pay a Retreat Cost. Brave Bangle WHT 80 is a useful Pokémon Tool card that offers your Pokémon without a Rule Box a way to deal extra damage when they attack.
Both Counter Catcher PAR 160 and Boss's Orders ASC 183 serve a similar role in this deck. Each of them offers you the ability to choose which of your opponent's Benched Pokémon to move to their Active Spot. Choose whichever Pokémon you want to attack based on whether you can Knock them Out or how much Energy they have attached to them.
Card advantage is important in all card games, and this batch of Supporter cards offers a lot of it. By playing either Lillie's Determination ASC 192 or Professor's Research PRE 125, you'll be able to draw a new hand of cards. The main difference between these Supporters is whether you shuffle your current hand of cards back into your deck when you play it, or whether that current hand of cards is discarded.
The last pair of Trainer cards offer you a way to reuse cards that have gone to your discard pile. With Night Stretcher ASC 196, you get to choose either a Basic Energy card or a Pokémon, and that card will go to your hand. Super Rod PAL 188 offers you the same choice of cards, however you get to choose 3 of them, and then those chosen cards are shuffled back into your deck. Quality vs. quantity is the difference between these cards.
Wrapping Up
While this deck might take a little bit of luck to run smoothly, if you're not averse to that sort of thing, you can have a lot of fun playing this deck.
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
