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 Bronzong TEF 69, a Pokemon capable of stopping your opponent from evolving their Pokemon. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Against certain decks, Bronzong TEF 69 will be an all-star. Against others, Bronzong TEF 69 might not do anything. If your opponent is playing a deck that relies on evolving their Pokemon, you'll want to get Bronzong TEF 69 into play as quickly as possible so you can begin attacking with its Evolution Jammer attack. This will deal 30 damage to their Active Pokemon, but more importantly, your opponent won't be able to play any Pokemon from their hand to evolve. This includes playing Rare Candy, since the Pokemon they are evolving into comes from their hand. If you go second, you can play Salvatore TEF 160, which allows you to evolve into Bronzong TEF 69 right away, setting up this evolution lock right away.
As a backup attacker, this deck relies on Gardevoir ex SVI 86. You can use its Miracle Force attack to deal 190 damage, a great improvement over the damage output of Bronzong TEF 69. Gardevoir ex SVI 86 also has the Psychic Embrace Ability, allowing you to power up your Psychic Type Pokemon with ease.
This next batch of Pokemon are all great additional backup attackers. Drifloon SVI 89’s Balloon Blast attack deals a variable amount of damage to your opponent's Active pokemon, depending on the number of damage counters on it. Similarly, Scream Tail PAR 86 can use its Roaring Scream attack to deal a variable amount of damage to any of your opponent's Pokemon. The amount of damage dealt is also based on the number of damage counters Scream Tail PAR 86 has on it. Finally, in a pinch, you can use Mew ex MEW 151 as an attacker. While its Genome Hacking attack can be quite potent, it does require three Energy to use, so you'll often keep Mew ex MEW 151 on your Bench so you can use its Restart Ability to keep new cards coming into your hand.
The final batch of pokemon are all included specifically for the use of their Abilities. Lumineon V BRS 40's Luminous Sign Ability lets you search your deck for any Supporter when you play Lumineon V BRS 40 from your hand to your Bench. Manaphy BRS 41's Wave Veil Ability keeps your Benched Pokemon safe from taking damage when your opponent attacks. Finally, Radiant Alakazam SIT 59's Painful Spoons Ability lets you move damage around on your opponent's Pokemon, letting you Knock Out a Pokemon a bit easier.
Since the goal is to prevent your opponent from being able to evolve their Pokemon, you can play Eri TEF 146 as a way to discard up to two Items from their hand. Primarily, you'll want to discard any Rare Candy you find, so they can easily evolve into a Stage 2 Pokemon if they disrupt your evolution lock. Pokémon League Headquarters OBF 192 and Collapsed Stadium BRS 137 help to further hinder your opponent, making the attacks of Basic Pokemon require additional Energy to use and limiting the Bench size of each player.
Since Bronzong TEF 69's Evolution Jammer attack doesn't deal a lot of damage, your opponent's Active Pokemon will likely remain in play for a while. In order to allow Bronzong TEF 69 to outlast that Pokemon, you can attach any of these Pokemon Tools to it as a way of giving it additional HP's.
Both Boss’s Orders PAL 172 and Counter Catcher PAR 160 can be played as a way for you to attack whichever of your opponent's Pokemon you want. If your opponent is about to Knock Out one of your Pokemon, you can play Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171 to return that Pokemon to your hand, denying them the opportunity to take any of their Prize cards.
As a way of finding the Pokemon you need, this deck relies on a couple of Items. Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 helps you find a pair of Pokemon that have 70 HP or less to put onto your Bench. Ultra Ball SVI 196 can be played, allowing you to search your deck for any Pokemon you need, but it does require you to discard two other cards from your hand in order to play it. There is also a pair of Earthen Vessel PAR 163 in this deck that you can use to help you find the Energy you need for your attacks.
Playing Arven SVI 166 is a great way to find any Item and Pokemon Tool you need from within your deck. As you've seen, there are a lot of great choices that you can search for. Iono PAL 185 can be played to reset your hand if you don't have anything to play, and it can certainly help slow down your opponent if they've taken the lead on taking Prize cards.
Playing Super Rod PAL 188 allows you the chance to shuffle back some Energy and Pokemon from your discard pile into your deck. This allows you the potential of playing those cards again. There's one copy of Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177 in this deck that might help you win certain games on the spot when you use it. Of course, there could be other times that playing it serves no purpose. It all depends on the type of deck your opponent is playing.
Wrapping Up
If you're able to prevent your opponent from evolving their Pokemon right from the beginning, this deck can feel pretty powerful. There will be times that you aren't able to play Bronzong TEF 69 right away and your opponent manages to get some powerful evolutions into play. For those times, you have your team of backup attackers that can help. As long as you're flexible with your game plan, this deck has a lot of potential.
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
